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Pick of the Week: “The Deep” #1

By | January 12th, 2017
Posted in Pick of the Week, Reviews | % Comments

In 2011, Tom Taylor and James Brouwer published the first volume of their original graphic novel series, “The Deep.” Now, with the recent acquisition of the animated series on Netflix, Boom! Studios has brought the book to comic shops through its kaBoom! imprint. An all ages underwater adventure, it’s clear when reading through this first issue why this book became a cartoon franchise.

Written by Tom Taylor
Illustrated by James Brouwer

Journey into The Deep with the daring aquanaut family, The Nektons, aboard their state-of-the-art (and oh so shiny) submarine, The Aronnax. When an earthquake off the coast of Greenland leads to strange reports of monster sightings, William and Kaiko Nekton, along with their kids, Fontaine and Ant (and of course, Ant’s pet fish, Jeffrey), dive into the mystery! Will they find what they’re looking for? Will they teach a fish to fetch? Will they be accidentally eaten? Find out in the all-ages adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author, Tom Taylor (“Injustice: Gods Among Us,” “All-New Wolverine,” “Star Wars: Adventures”) and James Brouwer (“Justice League Beyond”).

kaBoom! has definitely carved itself out a respectable position in the all-ages direct market. The moment you spot their masthead, you know you’re going to get something that’s at the very least charming, fun, bright, and humorous. It makes sense, then, that in their effort to establish a higher profile with their 2011 graphic novel series, “The Deep,” (originally published by Gestalt) Tom Taylor and James Brouwer would turn to the publisher. And “The Deep” #1, which takes the first 20-odd pages of the original graphic novel — fits comfortably in that wheelhouse.

“The Deep” #1 centers around a family of explorers, referring to themselves as “aquanauts.” They’re scientists and dreamers, pragmatic fantasists. They live in a massive submarine called The Aronnax (because 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), a “double-titanium-hulled state-of-the-art submarine capable of diving to incredibly depths” and “carrying some of the most technologically advanced deep sea exploration equipment money can buy.” Lately, there’s been a high influx in the number of hurricanes, which happen to occur around this area steeped in superstition. With a dream of dragons, the father, Will Nekton steers his family to investigate.

It’s pretty easy to parallel these characters with a group like the Incredibles. A loving but romantically spacey father, the stern and practical mother, the doubting and too-cool-for-school daughter, and the energetic little boy. But Taylor and Brouwer go a long way into giving them distinct personalities and voices. You want to believe Daddy Nekton when he starts talking about dragons. You empathize with the older sister throwing her brother a bone. Both creators know exactly what type of people a story like this needs and how they should behave in an introductory issue.

Brouwer’s work is animation ready. The lines are clean, the shapes open. The characters’ faces relay a wide breadth of expressions and energy; in fact, I think part of his strongest design work is how he conveys personality through body language. I also really dug his use of blue. Because this is a blue book. There’s the ocean (of course), but there’s also the sterile coolness inside the submarine and the weird experiment water of the swimming pool. Sometimes the staging reads too much like it was a series of storyboards that Brouwer sequenced later (and maybe that helped with the adaptation, I don’t know), but “The Deep” #1 reads easily and welcomingly. Once you immerse yourself into the style, it’s the sort of book whose technique and form disappears, leaving behind simply an enjoyable and fun read. And there are some effective moments. The myth-section has a nice, if familiar, tint to it. And the revelation of the creature at the end carries a great deal of weight and mystery.

But, because of its simple, unassuming tone, the book doesn’t totally tap into any real depths yet. Taylor and Brouwer don’t leave themselves enough room in the story for much in terms of development, and while we get a nice sense of these people and maybe a feeling like we would follow their adventures, watch their documentaries (Steve Zissou style!), they never come entirely alive. We don’t know who they are. You could exchange them with plenty of other family adventure teams and maybe end up in the same place. It’s all right to kick off a new adventure comic, but it’s not yet enough to sustain anything. And this is a comic that has already had more than a few books so far.

“The Deep” #1 sets up some simple ambitions and it meets most of them. Kids will undoubtedly be drawn toward the cool submarine setting and the unimaginable ocean depths. Adults will probably be charmed by the cel-ready animation and distinct character voices. The adventure is out there and we have the people to follow into it, but I’m not sure if we know enough about to them to care what happens when the going gets rough.

Final Verdict: 7.5 – An engaging adventure led by fun personalities, if not yet fully developed characters.


//TAGS | Pick of the Week

Matthew Garcia

Matt hails from Colorado. He can be found on Twitter as @MattSG.

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