Review: Portal Bound #1 (of 5)
Two worlds, so similar yet so different are separated by a portal. On Havos, a soldier princess called Sybil, her uncle and his lab assistant Riley are all that stands in the way of Sybil’s despot father, Emperor Atilus from releasing the Fymiera that will lead to the destruction of both Havos and Earth! The only hope is for Sybil to reach her Earth equivalent and together they can fight as one. Lucky for her, she finds Elias Rivera and his friend Brett and the pair join, kind of, in order to save both their worlds!
I don’t know how it happens; you wait all year for a conjoined story and two come along in pretty short order, quicker than you can say “Firestorm”. A little while ago you had the ultra mature Come Into Me published from Black Mask and now, Portal Bound which features a similar two into one vibe, albeit by very different methods.
Writers Mark Roslan and Gabe Carrasco have something of a minor dilemma to consider. The book reads very much like an all age book in the most part. It seems all the ingredients are there, plucky princess, smart Alec lab assistant, nerd turned hero and pantomime villain. Yet the dialogue doesn’t necessarily reflect this as a couple of characters have quite the smart mouth as well. In jokes like the band’s name may well fit for an adult reading this with their kid or for The Big Bang crowd, a show that has probably done more for Schrodinger’s Cat than an army of high school physics teachers. The characters in the book are fine, if you like this sort of thing and don’t expect anyone to break their mould. The coup de grace of the book is the “morphin time” which goes about as well as it does in the movie “All of Me” without the style of Steve Martin of Lily Tomlin to keep it afloat.
Whilst there may be stylistic differences on show in the writing, the art is squarely aim at an young audience or those who enjoy light romps rather than the uber seriousness of a range of other comic books. Alex Arizmendi provides the art and digital inks for the book with a style that reminds me of Elfquest in its heyday. Hasn’t art moved on? For a style of art that I personally am not keen on, Arizmendi captures the feel of at least part of the writing well. The art is easy on the eye with a nice easy flow to panel layout and page design, which manages to get all the information about who is who and what is what out to reader without cramping the pace. Colors are provided by Wes Hartman with a breezy almost dayglow effect. Does the end of the world really look so bright?
Fans of BubbleGun and Broken Pieces, written by Mark Roslan, may feel differently, but is a book that, to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t look twice at. This isn’t a statement against the creators, who have put together a book that, odd writing quirks aside, probably meets the brief as given. As one of a number of books that share this style, this almost between reading groups, this is no better or worse than its equally confused audience aware counterparts that can be found on the rack.
Writing – 3 Stars
Art – 3 Stars
Colors 3 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Mark Roslan & Gabe Carrasco
Art by;Â Alex Arizmendi
Colors by; Wes Hartman
Published by; Aspen Comics
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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