Mr. Singleton’s Thrilling Trip to URSA MINOR

I could sum this book up in one word, I could keep this nice and simple, probably down to a couple of lines and we could all go about our business. I could, but that wouldn’t be any fun. You didn’t come here to see me write “good book, go read it”. NO, you came here to read about my sarcastic points of view, my vision of what a comic should read like and my judgmental explanations of what I just witnessed.

So, here we go. Ursa Minor #1 from Big Dog Ink; I liked how we start out in the year 2012. This is a year that I understand, although I do have to say that I feel it was a bit premature for the story to lay claim that there weren’t any really bad things to happen in the world in 2012…the year isn’t over with yet.  The fact that I am following the election closely this year really kept my interest passed the third page, you see something gets revealed during the inauguration of 2013. This something that has been in hiding among the humans for centuries will now take a global platform to show itself to the world.

Now we are getting somewhere boys and girls. This is where my A.D.D. says “I guess I won’t be taking over today”, that’s right now I am into this book, nothing can distract me from what I am seeing and reading. This wonderful story has both it’ claws and razor sharp teeth into me. I cannot escape, nor do I wish to.

So, something bad happens at an inauguration. Tell me you haven’t thought of that plot at least a few times in your head, and I am not talking about something bad happening to the elected official, I am talking about SCI-FI meets politics. I know I’m not the only one with that thought in my head (note to self: get back to work on your screenplay). Darn A.D.D. can’t stay focused on what I’m telling you here.

This particular scene that I have somewhat described to you sets up an amazingly wonderful story, a story that would put CNN, Fox News, Underworld, Resident Evil and True Blood  in a blender and mix them all around all while throwing in some of the best scenes from Blade and The Matrix. Now tell me you’re not interested in reading this book.

If you have read any of my previous posts you know that I take comics seriously and I believe that to earn the hard earned dollars of the readers, the writers need to dig deep into their imaginations and come up with something that the masses would enjoy reading. Well, I have just that book for you here. I am not going to give you any spoiler alerts here today. I can’t, I enjoyed this book so much and I believe you will too. I want you to see it for yourself, this will not be a waste of money to get into this series.

After the incident at the inauguration of 2013 the world goes into a panic and as we all know this panic takes on a new form and becomes organized but then a calm comes down among the world and the organized now becomes civilized. This horrific event has become an opportunity…and it looks as if the USA might miss out on this opportunity because we find a way for opportunity to be profitable, I just shake my head, not in disbelief but because I see the truth in this fiction.

Now that a few new characters rise from the ashes of the fallen, new stories start to develop. New twist and turns show up on a map that is going under mass construction and changes. It is nice to see a story take on a life of its own, the imagination of the writer show up in the ink of the artist. This is what I love to see in a comic series. This is exactly what I don’t mind spending my hard earned money on. I know that this is only the first book in a series and much like a rock band years go into the first album and more often than not the sophomore album is disappointing. I don’t see it happening here. You see, I also had the pleasure of reading #2…don’t be jealous, you can go read it yourself.

Ursa Minor #2 is as strong as #1. One of my favorite lines comes early, but I promised no spoilers here today and I will keep that promise my friends. The plot, the story and the world continues in #2. I don’t know if it is because I am such a fan of certain stories like Blade, Underworld, True Blood and all of those wonderful crime shows like CSI and Dexter but I absolutely see each of these inside this series.

Now that I have shown what all I love about Ursa Minor, there are a few minor dislikes here. First off the artwork is not up to what I would expect, not that the artwork here is not more than substandard but with a strong story line I would expect artwork as strong. I also have a few issues with some of the cross stories and how we jump back and forth. Again, I did say these were minor issues. I can see it all coming together; trust me I have issues with some TV series, for one Doctor Who, my attention span cannot keep up with season 6 and all the jumping around…but that is another story for another time, maybe over tea.

All of the minor issues (seriously no pun intended on that one!), I have to say that this series will not disappoint.

Getting back to where I started with this review…summing it all up with one word, AWESOME!