Writer: Chip ZdarskyArtist: Kagan McLeod
Collects: Issues 1-5
While I’d heard good things of Chip Zdarsky’s work on Kaptara, Sex Criminals (as artist), and Howard the Duck, I recently became a fan of his because of his work on Archie Comics’ relaunch of Jughead. When an opportunity to review the first collection of Kaptara was given to me I leaped at the chance.
Zdarsky and artist Kagan McLeod are clearly having fun with this. In this volume, collecting the first five issues of the ongoing series, we meet the crew of the Kanga (hey, it's the name on the outside of the spacecraft; the fact it is also the last name of our hero is purely coincidental . . . or is it?) who are on a mission to Mars and get sidetracked -- okay, sucked into -- an anomaly and end up on a planet in a galaxy far, far away.
Oops! Sorry, wrong story!
Anyway . . . the hero of our story -- if he lives, that is -- is Keith Kanga, a bio-engineer who, with the aid of a quirky cast or characters including Manton, Dartor, She-La, and Melvon, find his way back to Earth before it is destroyed by Skullthor. The writing has all the humor that Chip Zdarsky is known for.
The art by Kagan McLeod has the look and feel reminiscent of Mike Ploog and Joe Staton yet is stylistically his own at the same time. His art straddles a fine line between having the appearance of a painting and looking like traditional pen/ink/color comic art. My favorite of his characters is Dartor, whose '70s-era shag haircut makes me want to laugh every time I see it.
The only quibble I have with the story as a whole is with the repeated use of the dreaded F-bomb, mainly in the first half of the book. I am a proud member in good standing of the American Society Secretly Working to Invalidate Profanity and Expletives. (We were given that name by the American Acronym Association at the suggestion of another group and were told it fit our members perfectly -- personally, I don't get it. ;) ) I mean, really, if I were running away from an alien like Keith does, I wouldn't be wasting my breath saying the F-bomb repeatedly. Just sayin'!
Seriously -- a little bit more seriously? -- Kaptara Volume 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien is a great way to be introduced to the series, and I look forward to reading more of Zdarsky and McLeod's adventure.
I want to give this book only 4 Stars because of the excessive F-bomb dropping and not having the sixth issue of the book ready to be published to meet the demand generated by this book, but I'm feeling generous at the moment and I'm going to give the trade a full 5 Stars.
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