Posted by Jason Berek Lewis on Feb 19, 2006 at www.BrokenFrontier.com
Inspired by Iron Man, as much fun as Spider-Man, marketed with enough fervor to make Donald Trump blush, Zoom Suit #1 is a fun filled debut.
I have been lucky enough to receive a copy of the Zoom Suit #1 Film Festival Edition, a limited edition version of the comic that is zooming your way in just a few short months.
Zoom Suit is a quick-paced, light and fun read. A genre blender of intrigue, action, superheroics and ugly-duckling-turns-hero, the book leaves you with a big smile on your face. While the premise of an unlikely nerd becoming a superhero might sound overly familiar, Zoom Suit is unlike any comic you have ever seen or smelled before.
The first thing you are going to notice about Zoom Suit is its unique bouquet. The perfume comes from the MetalFX inks that have made sure that every time you see the Zoom Suit, it is presented in millions of metallic colors. The result is spectacular. The alien spacecraft, the Zoom Suit itself and the resulting hijinks leap off the page in a way that you have never seen before.
So, it looks like a winner, it sounds like a winner, and it definitely… ahhh…smells like a winner, so does it zoom across the line?
In the characters of Simon Bane, the rogue NSA agent; Myles, the down-on-his-luck kid who only wants to celebrate the fun of Halloween; and Brittany, Myles’ close friend, John Taddeo, series creator and writer, has come up with a cast you instantly identify with and care for. Yes, you even feel for Simon, despite him being the bad guy.
With the characters down pat, John weaves a story that kicks off with a bang in Roswell and twists, turns and zooms its way across decades to deliver the Zoom Suit and a whole new level of adventure to one lucky kid. Just how Myles comes to inherit the Zoom Suit is one of the great twists in John’s story. When added to a brisk pace and pop culture reference-laden script, it makes for a lot of fun.
Billy Dallas Patton delivers on the pencils, creating not only a unique look for the Iron Man-inspired costume, but expressive, richly detailed characters who look and act in perfect synch with the script. Kris Justice’s inks fully flesh out this work, adding depth and the perfect blends of warmth, menace and shadow when needed. With such a demanding story, and unique printing process, Wilson Ramos, Tom Chu and Jung Choi have risen to the challenge to provide a stunning kaleidoscope of color for a vibrant superhero tale.
As a measure of just how unique this book is, Diana Striker is credited for the book’s “Special Effects.”
This is a comic book fan’s comic book. The story zings with “in jokes” and pop culture gags which reflect not only the sense of fun behind this book, but the creators’ deep love for this storytelling genre. You can’t help but cheer for the book’s hero, and you can’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy over the fact that the Zoom Suit isn’t yours.
With a pretty strong opening that leaves plenty of questions unanswered, Zoom Suit is a great independent book with a lot of heart, a good sized dollop of fun and plenty of zoom for your buck.