It’s like “The Massive”, except with more screenings of Marx Brothers films, cannibals, and knives held up to people’s throats.
Written by Kel Symons
Illustrated by Mathew Reynolds
Lettered by Pat BrosseauAction and adventure set in 1938—The South Seas. Japan has invaded China. War in Europe is imminent. Ex-bootlegger Jack Harper captains The Venture, a refitted German U-Boat, with a crew of expats, mercenaries and treasure hunters. They do whatever it takes to stay afloat, often running up against pirates, headhunters, spies, and soldiers. They’re always one step away from the greatest score of their lives…or their certain demise.
It’s been said that freedom comes with a cost. That is definitely true of the kind of freedom that the cast of “The Mercenary Sea” possesses. Each member of the diverse cast has a reason for taking odd jobs out on the jurisdiction-less ocean – most of these stem from past mistakes, or personal loss, or to them being victims of circumstance. Regardless, they’re free, but the cost is danger and uncertainty. Our gain as readers is an exciting, unfolding tale in a rare sort of setting.
Though danger is always around the corner for our heroes, there’s a sense of romance about being on the open sea. It’s no coincidence that the characters in the story fancy themselves as treasure-hunters and clamor for the next opportunity to put a new movie up on their projector. At one point, Harper refers to the sea as his personal “Freedonia” – a reference to Duck Soup (the finest Marx Brothers film, if you ask this reviewer). But just as in the film, even in Freedonia you need money to survive, so the romance sometimes ends by way of menial sea jobs and dead ends. On their more ordinary excursions, films act as a stand-in for their own adventure. Surely now that we’re privy to their lives through this comic, that is sure to change.
The affection for classic film extends to the creators, Symons and Reynolds do a magnificent job of pacing the story like some of the old pulp adventure stories of the past. The characters are richly defined before they ever spring into action. They’re tried-and-true archetypes, but it would be tough to place them specifically. There’s a bit of the A-Team, a bit of Johnny Quest, and definitely some of the intended Indiana Jones adventure – with a more overt sense of humor. The characters have personality and feel like they’re time-tested allies, rather than an entirely rag tag bunch who’ve been thrown together. That’s where “The Mercenary Sea” finds ingenuity – the cast is a calculatedly myriad group of expendables, and yet they belong together.
In discussing his obsessions with this sort of genre, Reynolds brings up the old Johnny Quest opening sequence and his fixation on it. He too accomplishes the same sort of thing in the first few pages of “The Mercenary Sea.” Reynolds uses heavy blurring to create the essence of fog, and a dominating presence of silhouetted art to craft an air of mystery and intrigue. When full revealed, his character renderings are big and bold, but they cut imposing figures in shadows. We may not know what lies through the next jungle passage, but we’re sure they’re ready to take it head-on. But Reynolds became known for his Indiana Jones silhouettes, and he clearly shows why he’s a master of that technique here, even when applying it to an entire issue of sequential visual storytelling. These scenes are about the actions within, and leave character expression and details to our imagination. Used selectively, this is an incredibly engaging effect.
Reynold’s visual style when he’s not bathing the panel in darkness almost looks like digital still shots from a vibrantly colored cartoon. It’s almost like a more refined, modern, and posed Hanna-Barbera serial cartoon. It’s deceptively simple, but even more rewarding when you give it the proper attention. Each character has traits that are easily spotted in silhouette, but become richer when they come into full view. The faces, in particular, are very expressive – something that has a greater effect when (again) so many sequences hide the characters’ features in darkness. These features are also where the issues’ moments of humor come alive – whether it’s in a smirk on someone’s face, or in a little detail you might not have noticed at first. Again, it’s all deceptively simple.
The comic shop rack is sorely lacking in sea-faring titles, and at the same time you can never have too many comics that try to capture pulp adventure and swashbuckling like “The Mercenary Sea” does. Symons and Reynolds are working hard to fill that hole, and with all kinds of little hints at things to come, the results are potentially sprawling and massive. Even with a sense of adventure, too many of these books get bogged down with overly moody situations and characters. While the cast of “The Mercenary Sea” has plenty of scars, they don’t let anything get the way of the sense of fun and camaraderie. The story gives each character a little moment to shine, and Reynolds’ artistic approach is something truly different and worth rewarding.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy
