Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Jirni # 1 Review


JIRNI # 1
Written by JT Krul
Art by Paolo Pantalena & Brett Smith
Aspen Comics


FLIPPING THROUGH:

            A young … evish woman and her father are being attacked and we get our first introduction to our main character, Jirni. She seems very crass at first, killing all of the Hrugites, seemingly related to Orcs from the look of them. She then saves the woman. The woman though runs to her father who dies in her arms but not before our heroine tells her that it is usually time to say think for after she killed all the Hrugites.

            We find that our main character is named Ara.  Ara tells a story of the last time she saw her mother, which we find out is who she is looking for. Meanwhile, we meet our antagonist in large fashion as he has a D’jinn kill a group of thieves that were attacking him, his driver and … low and behold … SPOILER, NOT TELLING.

            The book ends with Ara on her own journey but with lots of questions.


ART:

            Paolo Pantalena has a very distinct style of his own. And it is rendered extremely well here. Pantalena performs some strong, expressive panel work as we meet our heroine … killing things after a shot of the Hrugites eating that one evish man alive! Yes. That is within the first few pages. The characters look distinct enough. Smith’s colors explode on each page, really making Pantalena’s work stand out.

            There is a strong sense of  mystical worlds being blended to this as we got the Orc inspired Hrugites, the very Arabian inspired heroine and the evish looking people, making a diverse mix that really sets this world apart from others. Pantalena & Smith really bring out this new, interesting world. The somewhat thick inks works for Pantalena’s art where most others, it would fail. While some of the inks seem to bleed a little, that is my only real gripe. A great first showing by Pantalena & Smith.


WRITING:

            JT Krul introduces you to a new world in a fast and exciting pace. There are mysteries to our main heroine and we, as readers, get to learn those secrets with her. Krul gets really sets Ara up as a complicated hero. There is a lot of depth for Ara in this first issue because of  her attitude in the beginning of the issue, to the treatment of her rescuee after the battle with the Hrugites.

            The mysteries behind the D’jinn and main villain made their first appearance impressive, memorable and sets up one of the main plots. The issue was paced well. And while the ending was decent, it felt that the issue stopped more than ended but still Krul really brings his A game this issue.


OVERALL IMPRESSION:

            Interesting characters, wonderous world, intriguing plot and storyline build a compelling start of Jirni. There doesn’t seem like much in this beginning but she does grow strong. Pantalena and Smith give you a varied, mystical work of Krul’s design with a heroine who is multi-faceted. A strong, new series for Aspen.


RATING:

            Jirni # 1 gets a 8.5 out of 10. Great start. Buy it now.

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