Review by C.J. Bunce
I’m a fan of celebrating stories that pile on the tropes–when it’s done right. As soon as you start reading the new graphic novel Kraken (just out from Titan Comics and available here at Amazon), you know you’re in good hands. Beginning with a story by Shannon Eric Denton that harkens back to Flash Gordon, it quickly skips ahead to the middle of the action. The artwork by David Hartman feels like something created by Mike Mignola, the same quirky and sometimes even silly monster humor, but the artwork is different. Is that a hint of Don Bluth in that disembodied dead pirate head, Captain Jevons? Maybe a hint at some Alan Moore adventure a la The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
Whatever it is I LOVE IT and I want more.
It’s not every day you feel like you’re completely in step with the next original fantasy world. Something about the commandos this story sets up feels like the artwork that accompanied Adventure Team G.I. Joes in the 1970s. There’s that James Bond taking his dagger and scuba gear action here, too.
The Kraken of the title is for Captain Kraken, a 1930s pilot in situations like Indiana Jones, but his voice is all Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly. He could be played in the movie adaptation by either Jon Hamm or Brendan Fraser (OK, I’m skipping way ahead there). Transported out of the Earthly realm by some supernatural event (think 1980’s Flash Gordon movie) he returns… changed. What kind of monster is being kept behind his face mask now?
Rollicking and all “Amazing High Adventure” like Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer, the Mignola influence is found in the imagination shown in panel after panel. It’s that monster horror that is the right amount of cartoony and not that dark, complete with Cthulhu-esque monstrosities. The book includes a “mature readers” label but any kids who enjoy monsters will probably be ready for this book.
And the villains aren’t only the most vile of all–Nazis–these are monster Nazis, led by a Maleficent-inspired baddie, a striking and beautiful priestess, with her Shadow-inspired henchman Baron Black leading the charge.
Check out this look inside the pages of Kraken:
This doesn’t feel like an origin story–it’s a complete action adventure, with Captain Kraken, his old pal Luis, his friend Goldy, and her squad of raiders. They’re trying to save a bunch of kids taken by Baron Black from a Germanic colony.
You get wolf-faced and skull-faced bad guys and monsters from the deep–what else could you ask for? It all winds up with the possibility of a new squad of monster commandos in future stories. Sign me up! Order Kraken now from Elite Comics or your local comic shop, or grab your copy now here at Amazon.
