Comic Review: Great Pacific #1

Great Pacific #1 by Image Comics was well worth the wait.  I’ve been psyched for this book for at least four months thanks to Joe Harris promoting the #$%^ out of it on Facebook, and after such a long wait I was hoping it would be worth it… and it was.  Now I just have to wait another month for the next issue and this reminds me of why I tend to lean towards trade paperbacks and already completed runs.  This one was so good that waiting each month will be a task.

Joe Harris (“Firestorm”) tells the tale of Chas Worthington and his attempt at escaping the “real” world and his oil baron father’s shadow.  This kid does not feel like a Richie Rich snob that deserves a punch right in the wallet, and obviously has some regrets about his privileged upbringing and decides to do something about it.  Joe starts off the story in the future and then backtracks to the events leading up to Chas’s journey to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  Chas realizes that there is profit to be made in cleaning up the environment, and since his company is not interested in this profit line Chas fakes his own death and legs it for the Patch.  What will he do there?  What is on the Patch?  The Patch sounds very interesting and is not the real-world mess we have, rather it is a much more solid and possibly inhabited mass.  Joe even gives us some real-world stats on plastic usage in the front cover of the comic, and while it is clear there is an environmental message here it is not preachy in the least.

The Image site sums up the comic very nicely-

“Chas Worthington dreams of big things, solving bigger problems, and making his mark on the world. Only no one takes the twenty-one year-old heir to one of the biggest oil fortunes in history very seriously. That is, until he turns his back on his cushy life of wealth and prestige, and seeks to solve an environmental disaster twice the size of his native Texas known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The epic sci-fi adventure and survival tale begins!” http://www.imagecomics.com/comics/5143/Great-Pacific-1

#1 does a great job of setting the scene, giving us a reason to cheer on Chas and some insight into his pampered upbringing, and makes me drool for the next installment.

If the story is not enough to sell you then the art is also amazing!  Martin Morazzo (“The Network) does a great job and the panels are well detailed, bright, and very expressive.  Joe’s tale is easily translated by Morazzo into beautiful pages and pages of delicious arty goodness.  Mmmm arty goodness!  It is going to be quite interesting to see what Morazzo will be able to do with what will no doubt be a crazy adventure, and there had better be a kraken or other epic beasty soon=J

I hope the story unfolds quickly and am eagerly awaiting the next issue.  This comic has been well worth the wait, and if this is the first time hearing of it go and get it now before they all sell out.

9/10 and a very, very solid effort from a new team.