“Something Epic” #1

Imagination comes to life in “Something Epic” #1.

Cover by Szymon Kudranski

Written, Illustrated, and Colored by Szymon Kudranski
Lettered by DC Hopkins

SERIES PREMIERE

IMAGINATION IS REAL.

Outside our perception, creative thought takes physical form, with only a handful of individuals known as Epics able to interact with this wondrous hidden world. But for fourteen-year-old Danny Dillon, accepting these responsibilities himself won’t be easy-or safe. Lose yourself in a world of endless fantasy and creativity, where superheroes, monsters, magical creatures, and cartoon characters live and breathe alongside us.

Fan-favorite SPAWN and Punisher artist SZYMON KUDRANSKI introduces a world where the only limitation is your imagination. Featuring 32 full pages of story and art for just $3.99!

Having a single creator make the majority of a book, from writing to illustrations to colors, can be a bit of a mixed bag. An illustrator may not be as geared toward how a story flows, or a writer may not be in tune with the artwork. Sometimes, it can really work out, providing a story that is intensely engaging on multiple levels, while others or may be less than stellar. With the focus on the imagination, how does “Something Epic” #1, primarily the brainchild of Szymon Kudranski, do in that kind of uncertain landscape?

In terms of writing, the result is something of a shame. Kudranski has an interesting idea here, one of the creatures of imagination truly existing in the real world, just imperceptible to most adults. In some cases, this debut in “Something Epic” #1 would live up to its name, be it in the informal or literal senses if the word “epic.” However, the structure of the piece leaves quite a lot to be desired.

Kudranski does a lot of telling about the way of the world, but not much showing that cannot be seen as (in more senses than one) a case of nothing more than an overactive imagination. Rather than having characters actually interact with this world of pure imagination, the other beings, with some rare exceptions, more talk at the protagonist, rather than conversing with him. As a result, the story feels as though it lacks much interaction, with what there is being far too mundane to really live up to the series title.

In fact, more than half of the book is an internal monologue over someone deliberately not interacting with the visual weirdness of the story. While it may be to make it seem both real and unreal, the result is that at a certain point it feels more like the narrator is just hallucinating, not seeing a truly extant world alongside our own. Yes, there are hints that he is not, but they are to brief, too subtle for a debut issue to really grab readers.

The worst seems to come from Kudranski’s narration itself. Instead of letting the story evolve organically, he provides an extremely overt, pervasive exposition that more dumps random facts than actually pushing “Something Epic” #1 forward. Entire pages are devoted to the concept of imagination, or to the senses of various creatures, or what have you. The effect becomes akin to not a story, but a research paper or essay. In theory, such a writing style could be interesting, but not in the form of a debut of a comic book series. The concepts at work may be cool, but Kudranski dwells far too long on the concept of imagination from a theoretical standpoint instead of just going into the story, making some of the professed 32-page length feel artificially bloated instead of a natural introduction to a strange new world.

Outside of the narrative style, Kudranski’s principle characters feel they fit into one of two categories: too opaque to care about, or too unlikeable to care about. Central character Daniel’s mother is in the former position, with not enough known about her to really judge her as a person instead of as a satellite to Daniel “Danny” Dillon himself. Meanwhile, Danny feels far too self-centered and unlikeable, with nearly every interaction he has outside of his own head being abrasive and rude (and with the sheer amount of internal monologue, those are already few and far between). There is no humor to the unkindness, no rationale beyond him being young, which does not feel an adequate excuse. Yes, he has an overactive imagination, but that does not mean readers have an inherent reason to care about him, and the sadness of the final moments is stymied by the fact that any medical information is obscured too heavily to really grasp any of it.

While Szymon Kudranski’s writing on “Something Epic” #1 definitely leaves something to be desired, his artwork on the piece maintains the high quality for which he is known. There are a vast multitude of styles at work, from highly stylized cartoons to deliberately low-polygon images out of a video game, and all of them feel distinct while also never feeling they directly do not belong as a cohesive whole for the narrative. Kudranski’s illustrations of people in “reality” are more highly detailed, with emphasis on shadows. The darkness makes it almost feel natural to pull back into the lighter elements of one’s imagination, as an escape from the doldrums or depression of the “real” world.

Kudranski’s colors are nearly as varied as his art styles, leaning into the core emotional experiences of each individual situation or person. As with the lighting and illustration, the colors of the non-imaginary world feel sad or otherwise darker on some level, while the coloring of the imaginary beings feels like it, on some level, does not belong. Bright colors that clash with the rest of the world work very well to demonstrate how people ignore what the protagonist feels is obvious, further isolating him in ways the writing may fail to present.

Final Verdict: 5.5– There may be something epic in this series, but the premiere does not seem to be it.