Do you like Indiana Jones? Do you like science fiction? Do you like stories with incredibly weird worlds with real emotional cores at the heart of their swashbuckling adventures?
Well, you’re in luck, because Joe Keatinge and Leila del Duca have brought you “Shutter” and it may just be what you’re looking for.
Written by Joe Keatinge
Illustrated by Leila del Duca
Indiana Jones for the 21st Century! Marvel Knights: Hulk and Glory writer Joe Keatinge teams up with artist extraordinaire Leila del Duca for her Image Comics debut in an all-new ongoing series combining the urban fantasy of Fables and the globe-spanning adventure of Y: The Last Man. Kate Kristopher, once the most famous explorer of an Earth far more fantastic than the one we know, is forced to return to the adventurous life she left behind when a family secret threatens to destroy everything she spent her life protecting.
“Shutter” is a weird comic book. Not weird as in bad, mind you, more weird as in… have you ever seen the film adaptation of Naked Lunch? Yeah. Weird.
Okay, so maybe not as weird as that, but that’s definitely a feeling that permeates the book. This isn’t our world. This isn’t our Earth. This is a weird world. A world where a little girl explorer can go to the moon for her seventh birthday. A world where your alarm clock is actually a talking, walking cat. A world of weird, swashbuckling adventure.
And I loved it.
Coming from the writer/artist team of Joe Keatinge and Leila del Duca, “Shutter” is a new comic series focusing around a young woman named Kate Kristopher who is the last in a great line of explorers — and then hijinks ensue. As noted in the previously, though, what really stands out and makes “Shutter” work is just how weird the book is. It’s something that defines both the writing and the artwork as it builds this world that feels subtly familiar yet completely new. The worldbuilding really makes the issue as it gives an immediate in for the reader to get a feel for the setting of the book as well as the tone of the story it is trying to tell. And while there may not be all that much story, at least for the first issue, the setting up of the tone is really what works.
Perhaps the most stand out part of this issue is Leila del Duca’s simply gorgeous artwork. From the first page and it’s vast moonscape to the quaint simplicity of the Kristopher home to the bustling New York City, del Duca’s artwork is immediately eye-catching, full of world building detail. Every single panel of this story contributes to the creation of this world and it makes combing through the intricate details of each page a joy to discover something new. The artwork builds the kind of immersion into the world of the story that is genuinely hard to find in comics, but del Duca manages it with a deft touch. Without feeling overbearing to the reader, del Duca’s artwork and Keatinge’s writing puts everything the reader needs to know about this strange world right there on the page.
One of the first really eye-catching things about the book is its sense of design and storytelling through the artwork. Not only does del Duca give a glimpse into the world through the artwork, but for the first few pages we see four pages with three panels each, in which the top and bottom continue the story while the middle is an environmental shot showing the creator credits of the book over Kristopher family portaits. This is a design choice that feels evocative of an almost Wes Anderson-esque credit roll that gives the book a unified and unique feel, and was just a rather nice touch.
Just as Leila del Duca’s artwork focuses on fleshing out this new word that she and Keatinge have created, Keatinge’s writing focuses on fleshing out the character of Kate Kristopher and her history. While this issue may not be exactly story-heavy, it certainly does work as an introduction to the world through the art and to Kate through the writing. That’s not a bad tactic for a #1 hook, and it certainly allows for an immediate connection between reader and character thanks to that being the focus of the writing. By opening with Kate’s childhood and the wonders we see of her time exploring yet focusing on a present-day Kate on the come down from that time, there’s not only the unexplored mystery of her childhood as an explorer, but there’s also a relatability to this weirdness of the world through the character.
Continued belowIf there is only one complaint about the writing of this issue, however, it’s that the ending felt rather abrupt as if the comic said “No, that’s all for now” just as it was really starting to get going — though, that’s not so much a criticism as saying that the hook of the issue worked and made me want to keep reading.
Overall, “Shutter” is the good kind of weird comic we like as Joe Keatinge and Leila del Duca create a fantastic world full of strange oddities that will be a joy to explore as the book unfolds. They’ve also created one of the most interesting lead characters that’s shown up in comics recently, and we still don’t even know that much about her yet. If that’s not a testament to the immediate draw that the world Keatinge and del Duca have created, I don’t know what is.
This is a first issue that promises much more to come, and it will be one hell of a trip to get there.
Final Verdict: 8.1
