Amelia Cole and the Unknown World #1 (currently digital only)
Publisher: Monkeybrain Comics
Art By: Nick Brokenshire
Written By: Adam P. Knave and D.J. Kirkbride
A few weeks back, seemingly out of nowhere, a new digital comic book publisher struck the scene with a variety of great titles, called Monkeybrain Comics. These titles, digital only for the right price (only .99-1.99), are pretty great and appeal to a variety of tastes, and if you want something that is a little Buffy, The Vampire Slayer meets Harry Potter, I’d look no further than Amelia Cole and the Unknown World.
The book starts out with an action filled bang, as Amelia fights off a huge ugly creature, called a persuasion demon, in a downtown setting, cursing why this monster appeared, as folks gawk or run. After she takes out this baddie, something huge dawns on her: this is not the magic realm, so why did this monster appear? Quickly, as everyone else is pretty shell shocked, Amelia travels to another dimension that looks exactly like our own, but with the one key difference: everyone uses magic in this realm. She runs to her Aunt Dani and explains what has happened and what can be done. Aunt Dani thinks it could be a one time event, or that the doors between realms are becoming unstable. However, before a definite conclusion can be reached, the police of the world show up detecting unauthorized usage between the two worlds. The two do their best to hold off the police, as they try to make sense of things and escape, but before we know it, Aunt Dani reveals Amelia was not born in either realm, and Amelia is whisked away without a door to return to the magic realm.
This is a really great first issue for Amelia Cole and the Unknown World. Within the 29 pages of story, everything to make an exciting set-up and story is provided. We get a kick ass girl who goes from battling demons to on the lam between magic worlds, set-up with interesting characters and great pacing on the writing side of things, along with a mystery that makes you want to pick up the second issue to unravel. Brokenshire’s art does the job well here, too, and although a good part of the book is “on the run” kind of action, his opening scene with Amelia fighting the demon is done great, too! Overall, the layout has more of a 1990s vibe, where the action and scenes move, but without any of the confusing layouts one runs into with modern books. So the writing and art put together on this title equals a solid staring package for this series.
This title is a good time for an issue #1 that anyone can pick up. And I don’t just mean any comic reader; I really think this is for anyone, and it’s important to note it’s a title which between the story and visual layout can appeal to a non-traditional comic book reader who has never picked up a book before, so the audience to access this thing is vast. Recommend this one around, folks. Amelia Cole and the Unknown World #1 is out now, you can nab it digitally for 1.99!
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
