Review by Comix
For every one successful series to emerge out of the pandemonium that is comic fandom, there are dozens to have appeared and subsequently disappeared into the two-tone background. Untold stories of one-shot superheroes, strange romances, and paranormal mysteries, left behind to rot in the gloated memories of those who say ‘it was a small comic, you probably never heard of it,’ with more than a few unfortunate storylines which were tossed to the wayside when profits dipped. Stories such as The Intrepids. Released through Image Comics a whopping two years ago, the series lasted seven issues before floundering. Based around a group of down-and-out teenagers scraped together by a science professor-turned-father figure, the kids fight mad scientists wherever they may rear their ugly heads. Sounds a bit kitschy, huh?
The Intrepids opens up with the swimming bags of hormones in the midst of fighting one of the most dastardly villains this side of a Bond film: a mechanically enhanced bear! Making quick (yet humane) work of the poor creature, they gather back up in their secret headquarters ready to retire for the night when the professor, Dante, drops more news on their laps. There is evil afoot, and its name is Dr. Koi! A former lab partner of Dante, he supposedly went crazy with power when they discovered a way to robotically supplement the lives and bodies of everyday citizens, forcing Dante to break all ties with him. Now it’s up to his wonder group to bring justice on his old enemy, one that the group is eager to take to please their parental figure. But is there more to the story than Dante was willing to admit? What dark secrets await The Intrepids as they plunge deeper and deeper into The Mystery of Doctor Koi?
To be fair, The Intrepids is not strictly a Scooby Doo-esque romp through a revolving door of costumed bad guys and quirky one-liners. Mostly focusing on a young girl named Crystal with some serious abandonment issues, the series bounces back and forth between her struggle to belong and, okay, costumed bad guys and quirky one-liners. While there is a whole group of depressed teenagers to get attached to (which probably would have been addressed had the series proven more popular), we mostly get Crystal’s viewpoint as she either shoots her way through a group of baddies or sighs and pines at her place in the world, leaving the rest to play second string to her drama. As the series progresses, the rest of the characters start to round out a bit, allowing you to even remember their names if you so desire; but once again, they get cut short from any full development. It’s like a train that picks up speed only to crash into a wall three miles out of the station.
One of the unfortunate things is that after reading the collected graphic novel, I can kind of see why it didn’t fly. The characters are sadly unoriginal; Crystal’s perpetual bummed out-ness surfaces too quickly which makes it really annoying really fast, and the end result, while making sense, seems slapped together. Sure, it sucks that Crystal’s parents didn’t love her and yeah, it’s hard to re-connect with a substituted dad when everyone she ever loved had left her, but for a comic with robotic animals and a (yes, Asian) bad guy named Doctor Koi, it seemed pretty pointless. I did enjoy the excellent super-spy angle to it, especially with the genetically enhanced teenagers, but it just felt short of having any love to it. Perhaps if it had another run or had a chance to clear some stuff up, it would’ve been a better read, but with only a single book to it, there is not a lot of redemption.
The writer, Kurtis J. Wiebe, while a bit of low flier, has been around the comic scene for a bit. He is currently writing a series called Peter Panzerfaust about a plucky group of French orphans protecting their city from the Nazis. This is definitely a guy who worked as best as he could on The Intrepids and it’s good to see him go on to something more successful. Smooth action scenes superimposed with heavy-handed sadness at least blended well. I did read whole thing, so there’s that. The art by Scott Kowalchuk stood out more than the writing with a solid color pallete of blacks, blues, purples, and reds to reflect the noir-type vibe. The character designs also had a very 50s style with a hint of Hellboy cubism thrown in for good measure, giving them a little something different then your typical action book.
To sum it up, The Intrepids is a book that dreamed big and fell short, leaving us to wonder what might have been. Read it, I guess, you’re not going to be any worse for it.