Zendra: Collocationby Barb Lien-CooperReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk.
Publisher
Credits Grade: 7 I finished Zendra in one long session of page turning. I could not put it down until the book revealed its secrets to me. While upon finishing the graphic novel, I still had questions the comic didn't answer for me, I still enjoyed the breakneck trip from the start to the end of the work. I enjoyed Zendra as you would an action-adventure thriller of the type you'd see in a theatre during the summer. It's a sturdy enough story that delivers the thrills, chills, lumps, and bumps one would expect from a summer blockbuster. If you don't ask the book to be serious science fiction, it will repay your loyalty with action, adventure, suspense, romance, near misses, and other types of roller-coaster like fun.The set up: Earth has been destroyed by a race called The Jekkarans for no better reason it seems than the Jekkarans are the psychopaths of the galaxy. I think Stuart Moore could have come up with a better reason than the "they're just nasty" reason, but there's still time in future issues to make the Jekkarans' reasons for destroying the earth credible ones. Supposedly, there are no more Earthers, although there are rumors of Earth people on a planet called Zendra, a paradise of sorts. The Makers, a relatively young race of aliens, have heard a prophesy about the return of Earth people to their former place of glory. To help the prophesy along, they create Halle, who is made up of surviving human DNA and Maker DNA. In the meantime, the Jekkarans want to destroy the Aesirians, who are a clever race of aliens that more or less have a monopoly on intergalactic travel due to their control of wormhole technology. Bad things happens and Halle is forced to escape the Makers. Then, she has to escape the Jekkarans, especially a nutter called Abathor. Will she find Zendra? What is that strange Aesirian creature that seems to be developing a symbiotic relationship with Halle? You'll find out in Zendra ... and you'll have a good time doing so, too. What you won't find out is why the Jekkarans (and all other non-Earth races, to a lesser extent) speak slang-y, twenty-first century era English, know about the Earth lullaby "Hush Little Baby", or why every last surviving human we encounter is Caucasian (especially considering that white people aren't the most populous race on Earth — the Asians are). While I admit that these plot holes in no way wreck the enjoyment of the book, they bugged me, especially since Moore once edited a book called The Year's Best Science Fiction. It would be nice if these jarring elements of the book could be explained away to my satisfaction. The "all Earth people being white" thing is something I'd especially like to see rectified for the sake of logic and diversity. Still, I kvetch because I care. I grew to like the characters in this book and want to know all about them. I want to know their cultures, their belief systems, their pop culture, etc. What I'd really, really like to see in the next Zendra graphic novel are some prose pages in the back that give the backstory on all the interesting alien races in the book. Stuart Moore is actually a pretty good author. His time as an editor has taught him a lot about story telling, one can tell. Moore's work on Zendra shows that he has a great sense of pacing, of knowing exactly where the exposition belongs and how much of it to explain at a time, and how to write interesting, involving, and engaging plotlines. I can't exactly judge the quality of the dialog, as I still can't get my mind around alien races speaking current American English. I could explain it away by reminding myself that the main Maker, who is living on Zendra, is telling the story to Earth children that live there, but I then think that English must be deader than Latin, as Earth is a long dead world here, and I get frustrated. In the main, though, it's an intelligently written book. The work is greatly enhanced by the art, which owes a certain debt to Brian Hitch's work on The Authority. It's very nice to look at, except in the places where it's meant to be ugly to look at. The colors shine forth quite beautifully. The silvers, blues, greens, and blacks of the palette choices gives the book a real other-worldly feel. Halle is a strong yet vulnerable character that I think readers will like. I'm looking forward to her adventures as they are published. Zendra is an exciting book, perfect for summer reading. Written: April 25, 2002
|
||
|
Home |
Features |
Columns |
Culture Vultures |
Report Card
Indicia | Contact | Archives © Sequential Tart, 1998 – 2021 |
||
