Sorry for the delay, but here is my first Flashback Review. In these I will be looking back at old issues of Lion Forge’s Catalyst Prime, reviewing them and reminiscing a bit. I hope to cover every issue they’ve had so far, but we will see how far these take us.
For this Flashback I’m going to talk about and review the first issue of my favorite CPU series, Summit!
Summit Issue #1 was written by the talented, Amy Chu (she is also still the current writer at the time of this post). I’ve read a lot of Amy’s work, she does a great job with character work and setting up their voices. Amy always makes sure to add unique characters to whatever she writes and Summit is no different. Amy has worked on a ton of characters, but I’ll name a few; Red Sonja, Green Hornet, Vampirella, Poison Ivy and so much more.
The artist for this issue, and the next few issues that follow, is Jan Duursema. Jan is an extremely talented person, she is one of those artist who’s work you can tell is theirs just by looking at it. I’ve read comics with her work in the past, Ghost, from Dark Horse, is one of my all time favorite heroes, and she did some issues of the latest series. Jan has also done a ton of Star Wars work.
As you can tell, a big reason I picked up this series is because of the talent behind it.
Spoiler Warning from here on out. I’ll be summarizing the basic overall plot and going into some of the key things that happened in this issue.
Summit is the story of the women who fell to earth. Valentina, or Val for short, is an astrophysicist and astronaut who went on a mission to save earth from an asteroid. When she was up there she ended up getting amazing powers and fell back down to earth. Val has the astonishing power of creating and releasing plasma blasts, she is basically a walking fusion reactor.
So, this issue does a great job of touching up on the events from the Free Comic Book Day issue, titled The Event (which you can read for free on Comixology). And during the event panels shows they us characters we haven’t met yet (including a cute cat!), which is another great thing Amy does. Looking back on this issue alone, Amy clearly sets up story plots that she deals with in later issues, which makes the story feel like one big story, and not just single issue. They’re all connected, while not leaving new readers out. And I mean just look at that art! Jan is so detailed and realistic, it adds so much to the book. They were very lucky to work with such amazing talent.
Like I said earlier, Amy does a GREAT job with characters. She really knows how to make them real, and give them a real voice that doesn’t feel the same as anyone else in the issue. Val has hobbies, like Rock Climbing. Most superhero books don’t dive into hobbies, jobs maybe, but heroes are more then the jobs they have. Amy brings a fullness to her characters like no one else in the business!
One of the reasons I love Val is that she is queer. As a queer man, myself, I find myself reading queer characters and a lot of the time they feel almost flat. Amy does an superb job writing a queer character. In issue one we learn right away that she had a partner and that she is openly gay. Establishing that right off the back, in issue one, is very important. It gets it out of the way so Amy can continue to grow the character beyond her sexual orientation.
This issue also shows a great deal of emotion. Val is dealing with the loss of her friends (who also went to space with her) and that is in the forefront. Dealing with loss and grief is a big point in this issue. Throughout issue one (and in the following issues) we see Val deal the heavy burden of being the only surviving astronaut, in this earth wide tragedy. Amy does a first-rate job showing this amount of emotion, and only in one issue.
Now, let me talk about the art. Jan’s realism only adds to the deep character writing Amy does. Her face work alone shows the emotion without the writing. Jan’s character work is just as excellent as Amy’s. Jan also does a great job being detailed with the environment. Rocks, planes, cities, you name it, all feel real. Like you could go to these places, or ride in those cars.
Even though this issue doesn’t have any fight scenes, Jan does an outstanding job with showing off the action it does have. The rock climbing scenes are a favorite of mine. Jan also knows how to draw superpowers scenes. Even though we only see a bit of it near the end, it’s such a powerful scene that it makes you want to read more.
Overall, these two working together, and with this character, really makes issue one stand out! They both make you want to read more, and to see this character grow.
I give this issue a 5/5.
It’s hard to do a first issue well, but Summit is one of the rare exceptions.
If you’re interesting in reading the whole first arc, lucky for you Lion Forge has collected them in a volume (titled The Long Way Home), so you don’t have to wait like I had to. Order it today!
Thank you for checking out my first full review, look for more blog posts soon!
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