(W) Joe Brusha, (A) Vic Durichio, (C) Franchesco, David Finch
They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. Writer Joe Brusha takes full advantage of that opportunity with Neverland #1.
The story begins mysteriously with a man down on his luck. Down on his luck may be putting mildly. Severely depressed and suffering from nightmares regardless of whether or not he's asleep or awake. Nathan also happens to have a hook on his right hand. Immediately I jump to conclusions. The series is called Neverland and he has a hook on his right hand. That sounds familiar. But Nathan is nothing more than a petty criminal pick-pocketing New York City tourists. He even gets arrested; he must not be who I think he is. Throughout the first half of this story we get small mentions of reports of children being taken in the middle of the night seemingly disappearing. Soon we meet Wendy, Aunt Wendy actually and her two nephews John and Michael. Wendy puts the boys to bed and soon goes to bed herself. Wendy is later awoken in the middle of the night by strange noises coming from the boys' room.
In good conscience I can't tell you anymore than that. Much like the rest of this issue the ending is surprising and intriguing. Writer Joe Brusha has turned a familiar story and characters into something so brilliant and yet so simple it's hard to believe this approach hasn't been done before. As first issues go this is one of the best I've read in a long time. There are certain things that a number one issue needs to do and Joe Brusha and artist Jean Paul Deshong nail them all.
I'm very curious to see what else Brusha has up his sleeve for this concept. I can't help but think ahead now that I've seen how he's rearranged these once familiar characters. Adaptations like this may be common. Taking familiar situation and turning them around. But so far this story is more than a simple ‘what if'. Brusha has clearly put tremendous thought into how these re-imagined characters work in this story while still keeping them the same characters they've always been. Brusha is simply asking us to look at them a new and exciting way.
I would normally finish with something clever like "second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning" but in this story I have no idea where that might take us.
