‘Bonnie Lass’ is a title by Red 5 Comics and is due out in print in September. But, as one of Red 5’s ‘Digital First’ titles it has been available digitally on Comixology’s app.
This review was carried out by Alex Nimmo, a comic book fan who prefers the printed way to the digital. Mainly because he likes owning the physical copy. This is his first review, be gentle on him. Or not, as he’s also my brother. If you’re interested, here is his blog
Bonnie Lass is a Red 5 comic series created by Michael Mayne. It has been part of their “Digital First†line of comics and as they put it, has graduated to their print line-up.
Bonnie Lass is a female pirate (although she appears more of an adventurer who just doesn’t let the law get in her way rather than a full blown pirate), who longs to get out from under her father’s impressive reputation and make her own name. We witness her attempt of this in the series, by her trying to claim one treasure he could not – The Eye of the Leviathan.
My first impression obviously came from the front cover of issue #1. A great mix of Mucha style and the sort of cartoon styling that reminds me of a LucasArts point & click game’s manual art (which I loved). This style is continued through all front covers.
The use of so much bright colour made my initial read more difficult than I would expect, as I had to get used to where to focus for each panel. As time progressed, I grew accustomed to it and no longer found it a hindrance. This may have been helped by how beautiful the double page spreads are. I can imagine as a child I would have carefully taken out these pages (paying particular attention to the staples) and put them on my wall. Possibly alongside the front covers.
The art style is playfully broken up at times for comical affect, in a way reminiscent to how some manga (& anime) display extreme comical emotion in a character that has just had a great misfortune befall them. I feel it would benefit from not packing so much into each frame at times, as it slowed down my progress whilst I made sure I got everything I was meant to before moving on.
Throughout the story we slowly learn enough about Bonnie Lass herself to see why she is in the line of work she’s in. We learn this as it is important to the story though, and not just because we need an origin story. She and her crew seek out treasure hunts, which puts them on the wrong side of the law. In this particular case, they have a statue may lead to a bigger treasure and there are some shady people behind the scenes with an interest in the treasure, who know of both Bonnie Lass and her father. This leads to lots of fighting, a monster and some magical space time travel in an enjoyable introduction to a fun series which has all the promise of getting better with time.
