Panda prefers the natural look to heavy make-up on girls.
Yuki Vs. Panda #1
Duskleaf Media (2023)
WRITER/CREATOR: Graham Misiurak
ARTIST/LETTERER: A.L. Jones
As a child visiting a zoo with her grandfather, Yuki was visiting the panda cages when one baby panda stole her ice cream. She responded by biting off part of his ear. Now Yuki is in college, hoping her grandfather will tone down her martial arts training, but she still needs a little work. Especially if the teaser at the start shows what happened to that panda after escaping the zoo. And how do the little demon things watching the house come int it?
That’s ultimately the problem with this comic. I like the art, the comedic bits are okay for amusement even if I didn’t laugh out loud (the part with grandpa giving a young woman his phone number was typical of the “pervy sage” archetype), but for a comic called Yuki Vs. Panda, showing a little girl fighting a baby panda over her ice cream wasn’t what I was expecting. I know it’s the first issue of a series but there’s more set-up than anything that stands alone. At least we get the panda’s motivation, losing part of his ear and getting laughed at by the other panda cubs in the enclosure. It also looks like it could make a good kids comic…until the swear word comes out of nowhere and feels out of place.
Honestly, there isn’t enough here to render a final opinion. Curiosity about the next issue comes more from the concept than anything in this issue. I like the idea but hopefully a future issue shows whether or not the series lives up to the concept.
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