The Greatest Adventure #1 –
Dynamite Comics
Written by Bill Willingham
Art by Cezar Razek
Colors by Daniela Miwa
Letters by Taylor Esposito
Cover by Cary Nord
We have seen quite a few examples about how Dynamite can take classic, nostalgic characters that we love, team them up and give us an amazing story. From Justice Inc. to Kings Quest, these limited series have always left me wanting more. When I saw that we would be getting a team up of characters created by the great adventure writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, how could I NOT pick that up? Let’s see if The Greatest Adventure can live up to it’s name.
You can see from the cover who some of the principle players are in this story, including Tarzan and Jane, but this first issue very much centers around Jason Gridley. What started out as an innocent invitation lead to a strange encounter, that Gridley would soon find out could be devastating. Since I’m trying to avoid spoilers, I will leave out the details, but the second part of this story picks up after his escape. Gridley and Tarzan need to form a team to, and this isn’t really a spoiler since it’s pretty common, to save the world. As they go through the process, we get a clear objective of what the first part of this mission would be. The first issue has a bit of an anti-climactic end, but definitely gives the reader a starting point.
While the cast of characters set you up for what you believe will be an epic adventure, this first issue drags on quite a bit. I know that there has to be some set up, and you have to get the “five W’s” out of the way, but it seems like the explanations of a lot of situations went on a bit too long. Then we don’t really get to much depth on the actual creation of the crew itself. We find out who they are, a short description, and off they go. This is a series that I feel could have really benefited from a zero issue, because a lot of this read like a prologue and not a premiere issue. Not much grabs you, and that makes it tough to stick around if you’re a reader. The art is pretty solid, and the kind of nostalgic feel that you expect from nostalgia books like this from Dynamite. If you’re a fan of the characters, or Burroughs himself, you may stick around on reputation alone. Casual readers will definitely need something pretty significant in the next issue to do so. Maybe I’ve set the bar fairly high based on past Dynamite team-up books, but with these characters, I think that’s a bar that should be set. I’m willing to see if that pans out.
RATING: PICK UP