By Ron Marz (story), Lee Moder (art), Matthew Waite (inks), Michael Atiyeh (colors), Troy Peteri (letters)
The Story: A badass female samurai? In modern Tokyo? Who hunts vampires for a living? By doing a drive-by katana beheading? Yes, please!
What’s Good: If you’ll indulge me with a personal reaction right off the bat: this was the most fun I’ve had reading a comic in quite some time. I’m a sucker for origin stories, especially the origin story of a new and interesting character, and this issue felt in the exact center of that sweet spot. Ron Marz–best known for his Witchblade and other Top Cow Universe work–has created a new character that I’m really looking forward to following. While none of the elements of the story are especially new and original, Marz is able to re-purpose many of these familiar tropes and blend them in a way that ends up feeling like more than the sum of its parts.
Lee Moder handles art duty, and does a fine job. The visuals taking place in the modern day are extremely serviceable, and I quite enjoyed the anime-like touches he included (especially in the look and feel of Shinku herself.) Where both Moder and colorist Michael Atiyeh really shine, however, is in the flashbacks to feudal Japan. The level of detail in those scenes is extremely impressive, and the slightly hazy, water-color effect of the coloring gives the whole sequence a fantastic dream-like quality in addition to making the pages just plain beautiful to look at. Put this art team on a book set during this time period and let them lose like this, and I will HAPPILY pay Image a full $3.99 cover price.
What’s Not So Good: Once again, this is a particularly personal reaction and your mileage may vary, but…do we really need this much nudity? Really? Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against nudity when it feels necessary, and I certainly don’t begrudge gentlemen the occasional (or even not-so-occasional) cheesecake shot, but this didn’t feel like it added anything to the story. I get that vampires are supposed to be violent and sexy, but I got none of that (well, except maybe the violence) from any of the images presented. It doesn’t take away from the story in any way, it just left me scratching my head and wondering who felt the book needed those shots. It doesn’t.
Conclusion: This is not a particularly deep or complex book (at least not here in the first issue), but that’s okay. The key with new #1s for me is summarized in one word: potential. And Shinku, thanks to a great creative team, a fun premise, and strong execution, is a new series that has it in spades. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the mythology and characters develop as the series goes on.
Grade: B
-SoldierHawk
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