A powerful superhero has gone rogue and is terrorizing Los Angeles.  Thankfully The Spirit of The 20th Century is around, for some reason.  Your Major Spoilers review of Jenny Sparks #1, awaits!

JENNY SPARKS #1

Writer: Tom King
Artist: Jeff Spokes
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Brittany Holzherr
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: August 21st, 2024

Previously in Jenny Sparks: Once a founding member of The Authority, Jenny Sparks was last seen when she passed away at the very end of the 20th century. Her final words were a command to “be better” or else she’d return to kick some heads in.

KEEPING ‘EM IN CHECK

Jenny Sparks #1 starts off with a sequence of scenes depicting the day-to-day lives of normal people living in Los Angeles. These scenes will continue throughout the issue at various times until, eventually, one by one, they all end up at the same bar.  Jenny’s story begins as she’s woken up by Batman, who has entered her room.  After a guy in Jenny’s bed is sent away, Batman explains they have a situation.  Elsewhere, Captain Atom meets an old man on a park bench.  After a brief conversation, Captain Atom states that the problem these days is that no one wants to be god.  Jenny arrives in L.A. and investigates the body of the man Captain Atom was speaking to, who has now been killed.  She’s able to track down Captain Atom and fight him.  She’s able to bring him down, but before she can finish the job, he turns the table and kills her. Later on, while walking around the city, Captain Atom comes across the bar where everyone else has found themselves.

EVERYONE SURE LIKES TALKING

The biggest struggle in Jenny Sparks #1 isn’t over who’s stronger or better but it seems to be who can have the most dramatic monologue.  Between Captain Atom’s rant while in the park and Jenny’s gloating on the bridge and everyone else’s stories playing out, there’s hardly a panel that isn’t at least a quarter covered by a speech bubble.  That’s just a criticism of the quantity; in terms of quality, that’s a different story.  While it’s not quite clear what is going on in this series yet, the ideas and characterizations are already interesting and entertaining.  In particular, Captain Atom’s brand of mental breakdown is compelling in that he’s not completely psychotic or even megalomaniacal, which is something for a character who wants to be God, but more curious.  It’s as if he’s somehow forgotten that he exists in the modern world, and whatever he does, really doesn’t matter.  This pairs nicely with Jenny’s spiteful and somewhat sardonic view of the world, where she’s well aware that she’s in it, and she’s not happy about it.  The main characters aren’t the only ones that are treated well; the various side characters that make up the stories in between Jenny and Atom’s are fully realized, even though we don’t get all the details, what we do get is exactly what we need to understand what’s going on with them and even some of their motivations.  It’s efficient and effective writing, plain and simple.  What isn’t as efficient is the clumsy way that Tom King tries to establish a situation where characters like Superman and Wonder Woman can’t assist with taking down Captain Atom, these excuses are pretty weak and feel tacked on.  It would’ve honestly just been better if they hadn’t mentioned those characters at all or even featured anyone else.  It might be nitpicky, but in an issue that features a lot of engaging dialogue, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

DOING GOOD THINGS WITH THE LAYOUT

The art in Jenny Sparks #1 is unobtrusive in either a good or bad way.  That’s to say that it’s good, but it feels more like it’s just trying to be a good-looking book rather than doing anything exceptional with the visuals.  Where the visuals do excel at though, is in the way that the pages are laid out.  While this isn’t too crazy or anything, it does deserve mention, nearly the whole issue with the exception of just a couple of pages is done in horizontal panels that stretch the entirety of the page.  It’s hard to say what they might be going for here, but it is visually unique.

BOTTOM LINE: A TALK-Y ISSUE WITH SOME INTERESTING IDEAS

While there is action to be found in Jenny Sparks #1, the focus is more about setting up what’s coming while firmly locking in the characters who are going to be taking part in this.  While some of it comes off as a bit like a college freshman who’s come across their first Nietzche treatise, there are some ideas here that have some depth, and it’ll be interesting to see them expanded on.  4 out of 5 stars.

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Jenny Sparks #1

80%

80%

Head Will Be Kicked In

Jenny Sparks #1 is a dialogue heavy issue that effectively introduces some compelling ideas while managing to still give the reader a bit of action as well and ends on an exciting premise for the next issue.

• Writing

  8
• Art

  8
• Coloring

  8
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0