1st Impression: JIRNI #4 Review

JIRNI # 4
Written by JT Krul
Art by Paolo Pantalena & Brett Smith
Aspen Comics

FLIPPING THROUGH:
Ara wakes up after being blasted away by the Djinn, Anjaha … in the arms of a rock creature of unknown origin. She, at first, thinks the rock creature a foe but does not attack her. But when his family attacks Ara, he helps her fend off the rest of the family.

Meanwhile, News of Ara’s “death” reaches Torinthal and Luna. Luna … engraged by the news, for the first time in her capture, goes to her Djinn form and attacks Anjaha … who takes it while Torinthal smiles … cause he has gotten what he wanted.

Ara arrives in the city of Veris at last. As she goes in, she meets a thief named Nindar and that only leads to more troubles.

ART:
I will say that with every issue, Pantalena gets better and better. His detailed pencils really shine in a unique style. There is an edginess that I have not really seen much in sequential art. The panel work definitely pops off the page as Pantalena isn’t afraid of using different perspective shots when making panels, which really works. As usual, great amount of detail with vivid backgrounds.

Kudos to Smith for coloring this beautiful work as well as working on its shading to add depth and texture to Pantalena’s work. The rock people look really textured and Smith pulls of the right color and shading to make them look so. The women look beautiful, except for Rock man’s mommy, while men look strong or a thinner and more cunning. Pantalena and Smith make sure that they giving you a lot to see in the book. A wonderful job by this group.

WRITING:
Krul continues to build upon this new world, giving us mysterious creatures of various shapes and sizes. Alongside that, Krul firmly reminds you that this is Ara’s book. This is the story of Ara and her quest to save her mother and never loses focuses on that as Ara must deal with the rock people and later, her troubles within the city of Veris. Ara’s characterization was handled well, making sure that Ara did not fall into a damsel in distress. Also, Krul does well portraying a mother’s rage when Luna hears the news of her daughter’s death; which was also crafty as Torinthal manipulated the situation into getting what he wanted. Krul handles this well.
Yet, I do find one problem with the issue. The Jump from the rock people to Ara in Veris felt rushed. It messed with the overall pacing. While, all the scenes in the book were indeed enjoyable to read and very well written, this jump at the end felt a bit rushed compared to the rest of the book.

And while I do understand why Krul did it, it just messes with the books flow. Otherwise, great story, great characterization and a good cliffhanger.

OVERALL IMPRESSION:

Krul continues to build this new world of Jirni and it continues to get more and more interesting. We got cat people and now rock people. The art is amazing. And the story is great … save that jump between Ara with the rock people to Ara in Veris. Still, the story continues to entertain and be intriguing and the ending will make you say “Uh oh.”


RATING:

Great art, Great story only hurt by that pacing shift. Solid book by this creative team. I give Jirni # 4 a 8 … out of 10. Buy it on Wednesday.