Zodiac Starforce #1 Lights The Way - Review
Written By: Kevin Panetta
Art By: Paulina Ganucheau
Color By: Savanna Ganucheau
Zodiac Starforce successfully takes that late '80s and early '90s nostalgia and puts it in a blender with some charm, action, and plenty of high school exuberance. Written by Bravest Warriors scribe Kevin Panetta, all 4 of our heroines are quickly summed up in issue 1, but without a litany of exposition. For instance, Kim is the bruiser of the bunch, and the one who misses their past exploits the most. There isn’t a page sized explanation of that. Rather you find that out through conversations with Molly and Emma. There isn't much hand holding, as you get little bits and pieces of what happened during their previous adventures, but the details are not just heaved at you for setup's sake. I loved that. I don't need everything served on a platter for me in the first issue, and the art of discovery is one that is a bit hard to find lately.
So let's take a step back really quick. The Zodiac Starforce is made up of four high school students who were given powerful crystals by a being named Astra to protect our world. Each one gives them unique powers and weapons, all tied to the Zodiac symbols. There is the aforementioned Kim, as well as Emma, Savannah, and Molly. Each warrior fits into her role, but these characters go beyond typical team tropes. As I said before, Kim is the bruiser, but normally this type of character is a loner with a tough exterior. Kim has all the toughness, but is probably the most emotionally invested of the group. She’s extremely gung-ho about getting the team back together, much to the chagrin of just about everybody else. Molly is the least interested in being part of this team, but when it comes time to help her teammate, she isn't played as ditzy or stuckup, she comes through for her friends. Anytime the characters can buck a trope they usually do. The book carries with it a wonderful sense of humor. Panetta seems like he’s having a ball writing these characters, and it shows since it's a blast to read.
The art team of Paulina and Savanna Ganucheau is also quite deserving of praise. The art is just beautiful to look at, with a saturday morning cartoon feel to it with a modern sheen. Every character has such a distinct visual look, and while every panel is packed with bold colors, the lines are all so clean and stark that you won’t be visually overwrought and confused by it all. About midway through we meet another character named Lily, who I think is going to be a pretty important character going forward and will be a great addition to the story.
I will say that from about halfway through to the very end of the book, Emma gets reduced to the one teammate who cries. Granted, the book starts out with an Emma-focused action sequence, so it isn't like she doesn't get a chance to shine, but it is something I noticed. I hope this doesn’t turn out to be regular occurrence, only because she has a great deal of potential, and I just don’t want her to become the Jean Grey of the group. For those unaware of what I am referring to, in the X-Men animated cartoon ('90s), Jean Grey was arguably the most powerful member of the team, but all she did was constantly faint and yell “Scott!” Seriously, go back and watch it and you'll see what I mean. I always thought that just undercut her character and took away her strength, especially compared to characters like Storm. In any case, hope that’s not what happens here.
Oh, and I know Astra was kind of blunt and all towards the end of the book (no spoilers here, so I'll try to be vague), but to be fair, the group hasn’t actually talked to her for 2 years up to this point. If I don’t call my boss for a day I’m pretty sure I’m getting fired, so she took that pretty well. Oh, and there is nothing wrong with Supercuts so Diana can just step off thank you much.
Seriously, it's a good haircut. Plus they have candy.
Zodiac Starforce is a blast, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. You can grab your copy when Dark Horse Comics releases the book on August 26th. In the meantime, catch a preview of the first issue above.
