Flitting back and forth between the present and 1947, we first meet Jaycen Wise fishing with a man who, by all appearances, could be his grandfather. There’s trouble in this peaceful place, and though Jaycen is a powerful immortal who possesses magic and superhero strength, we’re not sure he can solve this problem. For he is a man whose sole purpose is to prevent the stealing of artifacts from their homeland or to steal them back. In flashback, we witness his mission in 1947 Sudan to stop tomb raiders.

The art and coloring are gorgeous. In fact, I had to sit and stare at the first page for a while to take it all in. The shadowing and depth of color are amazing. The two-page spreads, especially in the fight scenes, were executed beautifully and kept the action going. I particularly liked the use of what looked like pieces of parchment paper for the voice-overs. It was a nice touch. Kudos to the whole team and Joshua Cozine on the lettering.

Story-wise, the issue is paced very well. The dialogue is tight, and they don’t waste time on non-essentials. There were a couple of small things I did bump on. When Jaycen allows himself to be captured by tomb raiders, the men don’t immediately remove, or rather steal, the gold vambraces off his arms. Any good thief would be salivating over those. There was also no foreshadowing of Jaycen’s kryptonite. It will be interesting to see who or what will be able to stop a force like him, but I imagine that will be revealed in later issues; however, there is a hint at a much larger conspiracy or organization which Jaycen understands is his foe. I have no doubt it will be expanded upon later, as well.

I love stories set in the past and in countries other than the United States. There’s so much rich material to dive into and introduce to the world. All in all, an excellent first issue. I look forward to issue #2.

Creative Team: Uraeus, Sebastian A. Jones, and Prentice Penny (story), Sebastion A. Jones and Uraeus (writers), Alex Paterson (artist), Paris Alleyne (colorist), Joshua Cozine (letterer)
Publisher: Stranger Comics
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