The concept of a group of people being shrunk down to the size of mice isn’t exactly a new one: The Borrowers, “Micronauts,” even “Ant-Man” and “The Atom” play with this idea, and while it would be relatively easy to draw comparisons between any of those to what’s on offer here, What “Colossi” #1 is more reminiscent of is Land of the Giants. The ABC series from the late sixties is more than influential on this issue, in both premise and in execution. The world that our miniature adventurers end up in (the ironically captioned “small town with big values” that is Tolerance) has a distinctly nostalgic feel that, perhaps intentionally, gives very little away about what year it is, and the cast of characters are passengers on board a futuristic shuttle that encounters a freak accident dragging them to this over-sized world which, if you’re not familiar with short lived sci-fi shows from nearly 50 years ago, is almost the exact premise of Land of the Giants.
Written by Ricardo Mo
Illustrated by Alberto MurielWhen Trans Atmos Shuttle 34 disappears into a wormhole, its pilot and passengers are launched into an adventure of gigantic proportions. Lost in an oversized parallel universe, the group must put aside their differences and unite to survive a hostile environment. But the biggest threat they’ll face is the one that hitched a ride on Shuttle 34.
This comparison isn’t a bad thing; in fact it would be hard to tackle a story like this without drawing those narrative connections, and the task facing “Colossi” moving forward is establishing its own characters, tone and voice in order to rise above such early ties. In issue 1 however, character development is kept to a minimum in order to get the cast to a certain place by the final page. This gives the issue a streamlined feel as it drags the characters and the reader headlong into adventure and firmly sets up the status quo for the book by issue’s end, but you can’t help but feel that the plot would have been better served if it had decompressed slightly and allowed us to learn a bit more about who the players involved are, and more importantly give them a chance to react to the strange and terrifying world they find themselves in.
The benefit to such a pace does, however, increase the sense of adventure that the book emits; there’s no denying that this is striving to be pulp, B-Movie science-fiction at its finest, and it succeeds at that feeling grandly, evoking an almost nostalgic reaction to such a classic premise. The reader’s lack of knowledge regarding the characters (their motivations, emotions and even in some cases names are for the most part elusive in this first issue) does mirror the cast themselves. After all, they’ve been strewn together with barely anything in common except a shared traumatic experience, so discovering who these people are along with the players themselves will be fun moving forward, and allows for many twists and heel turns if the writer so chooses.
The line work of Alberto Muriel is clean and crisp, and the choice to often forsake background detail for a single block of color not only increases the focus on the characters in the foreground but adds to the overall feeling of a Saturday morning serial. The choice to use predominantly larger panels does make this feel like a leaner read but also allows for Muriel to play with structure in some fun ways. There’s a scene fairly early in the issue that relies on a shocking moment on the page turn and it’s perfectly done, leading to a truly surprising and stand out moment. There are also multiple times throughout where the structure of the page hints at an artist that enjoys playing with the medium and doesn’t mind trying new things: panels within panels to draw attention to detail and to give a scene a whole montage of images; drama-filled panels that slice the page into action-packed segments; and two distinct occasions where silhouettes are used to great effect are all examples of an artist having the kind of fun an adventure series like this requires.
Continued belowOverall this may feel like an issue that is moving too fast to focus on characters, and to a large degree that’s true and is by far the issue’s biggest missed opportunity, however by using “Colossi” #1 to throw the reader headlong into the miniature chaos, you’re granted the chance to empathize with the state the cast finds themselves in fairly well. While it’s important that the characters are given enough focus in future issues in order to truly develop, sidestepping that here to allow more room for crazy sci-fi adventure isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and along with the colorful, playful artwork this becomes a fun read that gives you more than enough to want to return.
Final verdict: 7.0 – Using a familiar sci-fi premise, “Colossi” #1 may be light on character development, but is filled with fast-paced adventure.
“Colossi” #1 will be released from Vault Comics on April 5.
