Review - Epic #1

"Eric, my friend, I have deduced that your only weakness...is girls."

Ever wonder if getting superpowers would make you more confident? More capable of handling typical day to day situations, such as burning nightclubs, bullying and other incidents? If you've got powers you're on the way up, but you may still have some issues dealing with some of the more mundane things in life, such as talking to girls. It may be painful for those involved, but it makes for great reading in Comix Tribe's Epic #1.

The issue is written by Tyler James and illustrated by Matt Zolman, with art assists by Fico Ossio (pages 27-32), inks by Vic Moya (pages 1-8), colors by Arsia Rozegar and flats by Eric White and Katrina Joyner.

After a freak experiment gives teenager Eric Ardor incredible powers, he does what you would do...he puts on a costume and becomes Epic. Super strength, speed, flight, optic blasts…it’s a fanboy's dream come true. Unfortunately, he's just discovered he has one weakness...pretty girls. While most boys his age lose their cool around the hotties, Epic loses his powers. Living in Miami, home to the zaniest super-villains AND the most bikinis per capita in America, it’s gonna be a problem.

As far as origin story goes, Epic #1 is pretty brilliant. James offers a classic superhero origin (science is involved), but he offers it in a very natural and organic way. Eric is a pretty standard high school student, full of mischief and general lack of responsibility; both traits work very well to move him through a chain of events that gives him the superpowers. If that was all the book was, it really wouldn't be that original. That James exploits the traditional high school boy's fear of girls as a means of stripping him of his powers is fantastic. It's a great twist on a classic story that starts off like Spider-man and ends up more like Angus.

Zolman's art is very strong. It's a got a classic comic art sensibility to it that is very reminiscent of the earlier books from Marvel. It's not quite the look of classic X-Men, but it moves pretty effortlessly between the superhero and high school side of things. He does a good job framing the shots and offering up a varied look at the characters on the pages. There are a lot of panels stacked on top of one another--which makes some of the pages very dense--but Zolman ensures that the reader doesn't get lost in following the dialogue trail. There are some rather awkward looking character poses though that don't entirely seem natural, but they don't detract too much from the overall art.

Epic #1 is a very fun first issue that shows a lot of promise. James and Zolman make a great pairing and work really well together, offering up a very evenly-paced tale that features some strong art. It's a book that feels a lot like Idolized and even Princeless to an extent, in that it's a pretty exciting book that looks at some stereotypical tropes in a flipped around way. Eric's life is getting turned upside down and how he manages to reconcile his fear of attractive girls with his superpowers will make for a rather adventurous story. It's a tried and true superhero story that offers unique perspective on how those powers change the person.

Epic #1 should be available soon with interiors below.