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Title: Aladdin: Legacy of the Lost #1
Publisher: Radical Publishing
Writer: Ian Edginton
Artist: Patrick Reilly

“From the mystical city of Shambhalla to the ends of the Earth comes a tale of magic, mystery and the motivations of power. It is the world of Ala ad-Din, better known as ALADDIN.

Thief, gambler, liar and cheat, Aladdin’s reckless soul falls under the eye of the sorcerer Qassim, who has spent his life scouring the sands for the Dreaming Jewel. This lost relic of shattering power will enable Qassim to steal the magic of the Djinn of the Lamp and reshape the world in his own malicious design. But to do so, he requires a mystical ability carried within Aladdin’s blood…power that not even Aladdin himself knows about. An epic adventure that twists the classic saga into dark, unexplored territories with multi-Eisner nominated writer Ian Edginton!”

Welcome one and all. Your glorious goofballs, Andy Liegl and Decapitated Dan, sat down and read last week’s Aladdin: Legacy of the Lost #1 for another Dandy Review! Here is what they thought of it…

Dan: If you haven’t had a chance to check out any Radical Publishing titles yet I say shame on you. This is a company that is delivering on all levels and has yet to let me down. So this week I asked Andy to join me in reviewing Radical’s newest title Aladdin: Legacy of the Lost. Going into this I will say that from what I know of Aladdin is based on a Disney cartoon. Sure I saw the Wishmaster movies so I know they are called Djinn and not genies, but I’m just excited to see how Ian Edginton interprets the classic tale.

Andy: Yeah, the Aladdin I’m also most familiar with found success via the immediate aid of a cartoon Robin Williams. He deceived a sexy Princess who wore a lacy blue gown (that was much too revealing for her age) by stealing bread and pretending to be a prince. He even lamented in song about being a “street rat” and “not buying that” in a clear tenor voice. If only they’d look closer… Would they see a poor boy? No siree! They’d find out that the cocky Aladdin from Fables (whom we encountered in our Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #3 review a few weeks ago) is way cooler than that little Disney punk. The Fables Aladdin is smooth, intelligent, fast, and a fighter as opposed to a charming fool. It’ll be interesting to see what interpretation Ian Edginton and Patrick Reilly come up with in this interpretation of the classic. I agree with you though Dan; Radical puts out some great books so it’s easy to enter this one in a positive frame of mind.

Dan: Alright so jumping right into this I want to focus on the art. WOW! Patrick Reilly delivers on this one. It almost makes me wonder how long does it take for these Radical artists to make a single issue? They are always so breathtaking. Alright aside from my sheer draw jumping when I go page by page I think he did a great job keeping the character designs consistent, which might not be easy to do with his style. One draw back was towards the end though where you see the princess’ father, did he really need to be dressed like he was in the Disney movie? Other than that though amazing look to this issue. What did you think Andy?

Andy: I thought it was a solid read. I loved the opening. It set the tone for the book and the weird shark-fish-demon thing that killed those thieves was freakin’ weird and scary! Although I don’t understand why the powerful sorcerer guy (Jafar?) had to hire those goons (and later Aladdin) and couldn’t just go into the cave and get the prized lamp himself, but whatever. I wasn’t as gung-ho about the art as you were Dan; it’s definitely beautiful, there’s no denying that, but I think the environments were pretty bland. The characters were full of detail and energy, but then their surroundings were just a simply colored wash or a wall or something unexciting. Take for example the cave where Aladdin gets the lamp. There was so much potential there to wow us with the room full of loot and the lost city, but it was just a blur of neutral colors. There was a larger panel of the city of Shambhalla which was smokin’, but the overall lack of attention paid to the environments was a let down; especially when considering how detailed the characters were. What did you think of this interpretation of the character Aladdin and the look of the Djinn (not genie Disney fans!)?

Dan: Well like I mentioned I don’t know this story other than the Disney version. But with all that and then this, I get the idea. I like how it played out. Now I know you wonder why the two guys and Aladdin were needed to get the lamp. Well for one, the two guys couldn’t get the lamp, they were looking for Aladdin’s mom, and they found him. He is the key to getting into the cave due to his bloodline. I loved the sand sharks too. I  really felt that the story has a good place to go. We’re used to Disney style stories being presented as happy times, but even a story like this is dark and I am glad that’s where this is going. The team is not afraid to show you the real story. Overall I am giving it a solid 8/10.

Andy: Ah, ok that makes sense about the whole bloodline thing. I must have missed that. Overall I liked this interpretation of Aladdin better than the Disney version; it’s bad ass how he steals jewels and cheats at dice as opposed to robbing bread and singing in alleys. However, I wasn’t a fan of the temper tantrum he threw in the pub when talking to the two lady servants of Madam Naomi. This Aladdin is supposed to be more mature than the Disney version, but here he is flipping tables over in frustration after not getting what he wants.  It’d be nice to see a more cool, collected Aladdin like the one we see in Fables. This version of Aladdin can brawl like a mo fo, but so can the Al from Fabletown who also has an air of sophistication about him which I dig. The Djinn looked freakin’ awesome and I’ll just leave it at that. Overall, I give it a 6.5/10.

Decapitated Dan
decapitateddan@comicattack.net

Andy Liegl
andy@comicattack.net