“What are we looking out for?” “I don’t know, just keep looking.”
Lookouts #1
Cryptozoic Entertainment (August, 2012)
CREATORS: Jerry Holkins & Mike Krahulik
WRITER: Ben McCool
STORY: Ben McCool, Cory Jones, Jerry Holkins, & Mike Krahulik
PENCILER: Robb Mommaerts
INKER: Mike Norton
COLORIST: Rainer Petter
LETTERER: Tom Long
From what I can tell from the comic and background material, Lookouts in this world are some kind of scouts, but learning how to fight monsters…or something. Our cast here is tasked to deal with a Sphinx protecting a single road and possibly the village beyond it. The mission is to solve its riddle and find out what it’s protecting without being killed like the family that stumbled upon it. However, the instructor, Samson, isn’t sure his young charges are ready for a sphinx riddle, and opt to bring them to a rather nasty bridge troll for practice as his riddles are at least easier. The elder who gave them their mission isn’t thrilled with this since it leaves the sphinx out there longer to hurt someone else, but allows it.
What they got right: We do get a quick sense of each character’s unique personality traits: the would-be warrior, the shy one, the bookworm, and so on. The art style is rather nice and fits the tone of the story, at least for this issue.
What they got wrong: However it really doesn’t tell you what a Lookout is. In a “scout manual” type section at the back it goes over the various badges, including the one that this mission should earn them if they survive…I mean succeed, but I’m only guessing what they actually are.
What I think overall: This appears to be an all-ages fantasy story (we see the father, mother, and their young daughters attacked by the sphinx but not the gruesome parts) and if that’s your thing it looks like a good start to the story. I am a bit curious but this really isn’t my genre.
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