Michael Mayne's Bonnie Lass: The Legend is the newest title from Red 5 Comics. It debuts today, in fact. But more on the specifics of that in a bit.The story opens with the titular heroine delivering a small totem to her client in bar. It devolves into a brawl pretty quickly, but Lass cleans the house even before her two partners show up. However a prior incident (alternatively referred to as a "fracas", "misdemeanor assault" and "full-blown ass-kickery") has alerted the authorities, and the trio resort to holding the sheriff hostage until they can board their ship. Another brawl ensues (in which the same folks from the bar get the snot beaten out them... again) and our protagonists soon find themselves being chased by ship. Lass' escape plan involves riding the rapids down a narrow canyon and launching her entire ship off the edge of a waterfall. As they escape off into the sunset, the reader's view turns back to the sheriff, who informs the devious-looking Monet that he's essentially tricked Lass into leading them to the famed Eye of the Leviathan.
I'm not exactly sure what criteria the folks at Red 5 use for soliciting work and/or determining what they think is worth publishing, but they've once again shown that they know how to pick winners! This issue was a LOT of fun. The opening was a little predictable (lone cloaked figure who drops the cloak to reveal they are the hero, then proceeds to kick everyone's tail) but once we got the inevitable character introduction out of the way, things started kicking on all cylinders. There was almost non-stop action once the first fight began, but I have to say that it was handled very well and still provided a great deal of characterization and a decent amount of plot development.
Thinking back, it reminded me of some of those great Marvel comics from the late '60s/early '70s that seem to jammed with action and story and page-turning excitement. Where any expository dialogue was deftly slipped in during action sequences, and didn't slow the pace of the story. Where any single issue had a beginning, middle and end, but still held the promise of more to come next month.
Plus, I loved Mayne's drawing style. The cover evokes a definite Art Nouveau feel and, while it's similar inside, there's a curious blending of other inspirations apparent. I can see influences ranging from Walt Disney to Katsuhiro Otomo to E.C. Segar to Alphonse Mucha. Mayne blends them all well, though, and presents an accessible style that's smooth and perfectly suitable for the story's mix of drama and humor.
All in all, quite an enjoyable read and I highly recommend it. Like pretty much everything Red 5 publishes!
This is the company's first foray into "digital-first publishing" so Bonnie Lass is currently only available on comixology and iVerse. At this point, I've heard no word on if/when a print version might become available. But at $1.99 for 34 jam-packed pages, the digital version seems like quite the bargain to me!
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