I never thought I'd see this. A decent idea of a story, led by a beautiful and clever heroine, in a setting of unlimited imagination, but ultimately held back by its own excessive ambition. Shutter Volume 1: Wonderlost feels like someone's wild dream gone completely out of control to the point where nothing really makes sense anymore, except the level of absurdity we witness from page to page.
As written by Joe Keatinge and illustrated by Leila Del Luca and Owen Gieni, Wonderlost possesses a most bizarre visuals that at once capture our eyes and imagination. Their protagonist, Kate Kristopher, who leaps from one dangerous, life-threatening situation with her talking cat (which, by the way, has a clock on its stomach), is the kind of heroine reminiscent of our own best explorers. She's a dare-devil with long white boots, and a flock of lengthy dark hair to match. As Kate occasionally recalls her adventures with her late father - who even led her to the moon once upon a time - she is chased by assassins and hoodlums from the entire universe over - some wanting to capture her, while others want to see her dead - and it would seem that a member of her own family is behind it all.
All of these events occur with such high kinetic energy that I found my head spinning more than once. The narrative, which starts off well, quickly jumps into unnecessary overdrive, without developing the lead characters appropriately, and proceeds to introduce way too many additional cast members of this very quirky and bizarre universe. By the time I turned the last page, I couldn't help but wonder if the creator was high on something while conceiving this idea; it feels terribly over-written, and if I may so, overstuffed with too much of everything. It looks great, that much is true, but it sounds anything but genuine and authentic. It's difficult to care for a lead character when she isn't even given a proper minute to develop even the slightest bit of humanity.
C
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