We all have a guilty pleasure, mine is W.I.T.C.H., that old series about young girls that transformed themselves into elemental guardians to protect the world, or Winx Club. I know, totally not what you’d expect a goth guy like me to say, but they are guilty pleasures for a reason, aren’t they?
With the first issue of Jade Street Protection Services that drops this Wednesday June 29th I remembered those times when I used to watch both series, and more recently when I read the early comics in the W.I.T.C.H. chronology. People say that Sailor Moon is another reference along these lines, but I wasn’t into that anime, so I can’t really say.
These girls have an interesting story going on. It’s very basic, but at the same time we just have the first issue so we cannot judge at a time when so many books cram too much in their first issues. I will admit that the gems and weapons seem to have an interesting background that I want to find out more about.
The script is also pretty funny in Jade Street Protection Services #1. Katy Rex did a great job working with an already known formula in a humorous way. I’m used to this kind of story, but the distribution of the panels, the hilarious comments of Kai, Saba, Noemi and the rest of the cast let us see a real sense of originality.
It’s not what I’d call a fast read as it evolves at a medium pace with the beginning being somewhat slow, but things do get better at the tail end of the book and compensate for any pacing issues. It’s a cool way to balance and fix things as a whole.
Where I do have some problems is with the “swearing” in this title. Even though it’s not actually mean or vulgar in any way, I think there could be other ways to let reader, specially younger readers, know that you can express discomfort without using those kind of words. Leave it to the teen and adult comics, please, but that’s just me.
The art done by Fabian Lelay has a clear TV series influence and gives it a great appearance and style. It looks just like something children today would see before heading off for school, or on one of those kids blocks right after, so more points there.
However, because of the nature, it doesn’t mean Jade Street Protection Services #1 doesn’t have a little action, because it certainly does. Now it’s not as much as I’d like to see, and what I think would be necessary, but it’s there. What we get is minimal on the action front so I’m waiting for something more in the next issue, mostly thanks to that last panel (great panel, by the way!) that sets up some exciting stuff.
Mara Jayne Carpenter was also great with the coloring on this first issue. Simple with not so heavy on the detail, but just the most important contrasts being focused on and well-directed for children aesthetic that they were looking to hit. I’m sure she knew exactly what she was doing while coloring this and it works well.
The only con I have in here with the coloring is that there are lots of blues in many pages, one after the other that it sometimes feels a bit heavy. Reading becomes kind of weighed down because of it and leaves the reader with the wrong impression of the whole thing.
Still, I must admit I had a really good time reading this issue and would be cool to see how the story develops in future issues. We all need guilty pleasures we’re not ashamed to share at some point and books like these are important on the market. I’ll be happily waiting for the next one!
P.S: Kim & Kim’s Sneak preview looks awesome! It’s like JSPS for grown ups!
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