Luckily, Jose over at the M.A.S.K.- Peaceful Nations Alliance Facebook Page managed to get his hands on 10 copies of the comic. He's been running competitions with M.A.S.K. related questions.
Prior to each competition, he posted information about the time and date the competition would start - along with the competition rules. I sat with his Facebook page open constantly refreshing with F5 to make sure I caught one of his competitions. The particular competition that night was a blacked out image of a character from the world of M.A.S.K.
It was part guess and part luck. I could vaguely make out glasses and a moustache - didn't seem to fit with any of the M.A.S.K. or V.E.N.O.M. agents. Then it struck me - Duane Kennedy - leader of the P.N.A. - seemed fitting for the page!
I think I had my answer in within a minute of Jose posing the question. I don't think he expected anyone to answer quite that quickly!
Anyway, the comic arrived today. I know that it's been available online for a while, and I could've reviewed it well before now, but seems more fitting to review now that have a tangible, paper, traditional comic in my hands.
So, I read it to my 6 year old son as part of his Bedtime Story Routine tonight. Although I'm only on the prelude issue, I think, going from what I've already seen of future comics, that part of my reviews for all the issues may have similar gripes.
Before I do any further, I'm going to be as honest as I can be. I will have some positives and negatives. I'm not going to apologise for my frank opinion - and it is just that; an opinion!
First things first, I have mentioned before in previous posts about the size difference between UK and US Comics. In America, everything seems like they have to be large - cars, food portions, houses, egos, etc.
However, American Comics are small. Very Small. Fit in a ladies handbag kind of small. Kid size small. Put it down for two minutes and you can't find it again small.
Ok, I think I've made my point, your comics are small. However, there is no scrimping on action. The Artwork in this comic is amazing! It's vibrant, colourful, explosive and truly draws you in.
Like the UK Comics from the 80's, we have a fantastic wraparound cover and every inch delivers. Now, imagine if this comic was the size of a UK Comic - how much more impactful the cover would be?
The black banner along the top of the page, with the now familiar Revolution text is crisp, clean, modern and well.... Just looks amazing.
But, we do have a couple of problems. Although Switchblade on the back cover (not pictured above) resembles every inch the iconic vehicle from the 80's, Thunder Hawk and Rhino on the front cover are somewhat different.
They are more rounded... and more like Caricatures of the originals. The ramp and missile within Rhino are also opening up from the wrong side - based on the toy of the 80's.
But that isn't the biggest issue with the cover.
In my opinion, the cover of a comic or magazine should have some relevance to the comic within. Let's say you were buying a TV - if, on the box, it showed a picture of a 55", 4k, 3D, top of the range Smart TV - that is what you would expect to find when you open the box. If you opened the box and found an outdated, 32" standard definition TV - you would feel completely short changed.
So, why shouldn't a comic cover be any different? If I have a comic that is tempting me in with images of Switchblade, Rhino and Thunder Hawk, I would be expecting them to be on the inside of the comic as part of the story or at least a vehicle profile - like the old UK Comics.
Instead, the only link to M.A.S.K. within the story, is the character Miles Manheim - known as Miles Mayhem. With the variation covers I've seem so far for some of the comics - see my Blogpost on the Issue 1 covers as an example - there seem to be some discrepancies in styles of Masks, vehicles, outfits, etc. I think that we are going to be sold comics with great looking covers that bare no resemblance or connection with the stories within. That would be a shame.
It would also be a false way of selling comics if that is also the case.
The actual story itself is very basic. It centres mainly on G.I. Joe characters talking about the history of The Transformers and their impact on Earth - with a little of input from Miles Mayhem.
It is a prelude comic, I understand that. It has to set things up. If I were to compare it to the Preview issue of the UK M.A.S.K. Comics, I would say the positive is the great full colour art. However, lacks in size and story. But mainly, it lacks M.A.S.K.
I've order the first few issues of Revolution and I believe that the first issue should be with me soon so I'm hoping to review that for you as soon as I can.
Feel free to pop over to my M.A.S.K. Comics Facebook Page, like and share and leave your comments below.
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