Jupiter’s Legacy #1 is the first installment of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s new Image venture.
Jupiter’s Legacy #1 is the first installment of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s new Image venture. The covers for the first issue were very well done, with 4 different covers: one by Quitely, one by Phil Noto, one by Dave Johnson, one by J. Scott Campbell, one by Christian Ward and one by Bryan Hitch. I’m a huge fan of Dave Johnson’s stuff – mostly his 100 Bullets, Deadpool and Fury Max covers – so I grabbed the Johnson and Quitely covers. Each cover tells a different part of the story as great covers often do. Quitely’s cover depicts the two main characters in the foreground with a statuesque rendering of their parents in the background and is my favourite of the two I grabbed, though Johnson’s cover is pretty wicked in portraying the decadent nuances enveloped in Millar and Quitely’s story.
Quitely’s cover depicts the two main characters in the foreground with a statuesque rendering of their parents in the background and is my favourite of the two I grabbed.
Perhaps the reason I prefer Quitely’s cover over my coveted tried and true Dave Johnson cover art has to do with what Millar does best in this story: create a multi-generational narrative that starts in 1932, Morocco and continues into 2013, America. This echoes Watchmen’s shifts in time setting as Moore offered glimpses at his character’s past and present over multiple decades, though different from the time periods Jupiter’s Legacy concerns itself with. Being that the story portrays superhumans living in the real world and gives readers a sense of what would occur in our pop-culture if superhumans actually existed; it’s no wonder I see Moore’s influence in the pages of Millar’s comic.
The 1932 pages of the story at the start called to mind that nostalgic feeling of an awesome adventure I just couldn’t wait to dive in to.
The interior art is what has really sold me on this series. Millar is a great writer, sure, but I hadn’t previously encountered much of Quitely’s pencils and inks outside of a few issues of The Invisibles and his symbiosis with Peter Doherty on the interiors is really a spectacle to behold. The 1932 pages of the story at the start called to mind that nostalgic feeling of an awesome adventure I just couldn’t wait to dive in to. Doherty and Quitely then demonstrate their adaptability and transplant us to the glitz and glam of the red carpet in modern day, March 2013. There’s scantily clad super heroines and heroes partying at night clubs, golden-age style superhero fights, psychic dimensions and drug overdoses; everything you’d expect from a Millar comic if you’ve ever read any Millarworld titles.
There’s scantily clad super heroines and heroes partying at night clubs, golden-age style superhero fights, psychic dimensions and drug overdoses; everything you’d expect from a Millar comic if you’ve ever read any Millarworld titles.
All in all, I give this comic a 4/5. The art was quite handsome and the writing was funny, thought-provoking and intelligent. The only reason I’m not giving it a perfect 5/5 score is the fact that it’s been done before by Millar. Millar is a great writer and has done a number of comics I’d place in the upper echelon of modern comics, including Red Son and Wanted. Though I’d like to see him branch out more in his choice of genre. Superheros seem a frequent favourite of Millar’s that may be more of a crutch than an aid to him: he relies on them too heavily even outside of his corporate comics writing. I’m not one of those nothing-impresses-me fanboy assholes Millar is constantly writing about, I’m just saying Millar is a versatile writer capable of writing comics outside the superhero genre, so it would be nice to see something fresh from him.
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Posted on May 30th, 2013
Category: 50 SHADES OF BLOOD AND VISCERA, REVIEWS
Tags: 50 Shades Of Blood and Viscera, Comic Review, comics, Dave Johnson, Frank Quitely, Image Comics, James M. Clark, Jupiters Legacy #1 review, Mark Millar