REVIEW: Echo - 1

So there I was - stood in the comic shop, looking at this book. Thinking to myself: "should I pick this book up?"

I caught myself thinking, "it's not the kind of book that I'd normally read" - and almost before I was halfway through my thought bubble - I knew I had to buy it and blog about it.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Unlike many, I've not (yet) read Terry Moore's popular Strangers In Paradise - so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. A quick flick through the book showed me that the artwork was passable (and actually quite nice on closer inspection), and that there were some interesting scenes in the book.

Echo, from the off, appears to be just like any other superhero book. A masked woman with wings flies through the sky in the opening sequence, talking to what appears to be the US army via a radio, all the while 'testing' her new suit.

From this all too common start, a a betrayal occurs, followed shortly by an explosion in the sky, in which our masked woman appears to be killed the blast (who can really tell if they're dead for good these days).

Far below on the ground, a woman (who we later learn is Julie) taking photographs of plants in the desert, witnesses the explosion in the sky, and suddenly becomes covered with small sticky dots, raining from the sky...

The book itself offers up an interesting start to a series, leaving nice hints at what future storylines might occur (divorce papers on table, messages on the answerphone, government recovery squads in the desert, etc) - and I'd say it has piqued my interest enough for me to pick it up next month - if I saw it on the shelf.

It doesn't yet have the 'wow' factor required for me to commit to buying it every month - but I'd be surprised if this series didn't turn itself into something very nice in the near future.

Pete's Score: 3 out of 5

(good start for a new series - interesting possibilities ahead - worth reading and possibly worth picking up in the future)