Boom Studios: Skybourne #1

Growing up in the 1980’s, we had Indian Jones, some terrible James Bond films (the A-team made up for it), and a lot of great adventure cartoons and movies. Frank Cho is a child of the 80’s and his new comic: Skybourne is a mashup that every kid who pretended that he or she was a sword fighting hero will love.

Skybourne’s story and art come from the bodacious mind of Frank Cho (Totally Awesome Hulk, Savage Wolverine). What’s known about Frank Cho is that he draws his women strong and his monsters ferocious. One look at the art and anyone can tell it’s a Cho. However, his model drawings of voluptuous women have put Frank on the hot seat against some fellow comic writers/artists. You either understand Frank’s love for strong, muscular, curvy women and see that as empowering or you view his artwork as sexist. There’s no middle ground and you can find plenty of articles written about Frank Cho’s art that argue this. This review will not be one of them.

The story, again, is a mashup of James Bond (spy organization), Indian Jones (exploration) and King Arthur. Our leading lady goes by the name of Grace Skybourne who is on the hunt for a very priceless artifact: King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur. The comic is set in the modern world (middle east), where Grace tries to buy Excalibur from a bad organization, but the deal goes awry. Issue #1 is action based and Grace has the power of She-Hulk (we don’t know how or why, and no she’s doesn’t become green). She basically punches human heads right off their necks. This comic isn’t not for children or the squeamish. It is for fans of Heavy Metal or WWE or/and a good majority of superhero readers.

Without going too much into it, the comic ends with a battle verses a hobo-looking wizard (from Boom Studios description of the comic, it’s Merlin) and ends badly for Grace. Grace is basically indestructible this whole book until she fights hobo-wizard. The comic is cookie cutter action but it’s theme and story hold promise. I find that many 1st issues of new series, either throw everything at you (the story, the characters, their blood types) or they tend to give you an overabundance of eye candy. For a Frank Cho comic, you want the latter. That’s why you stick around. Cho’s beautiful leading ladies, his over-the-top action, and his crude death scenes are what make this comic enjoyable. It’s just a plus that this story isn’t half bad (yet). He’s got me for a least two more issues.

3.5 out of 5.0