Zoe Dare vs The Disasteroid #1 Review

Zoe Dare vs the Disasteroid #1
Written by: Brockton McKinney
Illustration by: Andrew Herman
Publisher: Action Lab Comics
Review by Gregory Brothers

What is lung fu mo shi? Well I am glad you asked. It is a philosophy that Jackie Chan and many other stuntmen in Hong Kong followed as they came up through the ranks doing stunts for various movies. It basically means that you are the bravest of the brave and when ever you tried a stunt successful or not you got up without thinking about it and tried it again until you were successful. Now that you know what the philosophy means it should help you understand the type of person Zoe Dare is.

In Zoe Dare vs The Disasteroid our heroine and her team are tasked with trying to save earth from eminent disaster as a rouge asteroid heads its way. Zoe is a professional stuntwoman and daredevil in the same realm that the real life Evel Knievel falls in. She is following in her father footsteps as she continues to do bigger stunts each time while being a showman for the paying audience. Her team consists of her sister Danni who is a IT specialist and bit of an engineer as she directs with information during her stunts. In addition to her sister, Zoe’s team also has two A.I. robots named V.I.C.T.O.R. and J.J., who while we do not find out what their role is on the team in this first issue, do provide some comic relief.

This first issue is really broken down into two parts. The first half is the introduction of Zoe and her sister Danni. The work of introducing us to Zoe and Danni is done brilliantly as it is done while Zoe performs a stunt in front of an audience. The interactions between the two sisters gives you insight as to what drives them to be successful without being boring. Zoe comes of as confident if not just a little bit cocky as she performs the stunt that she seems to know like the back of her hand. Meanwhile, Danni is the more level headed of the two as she analyzes and plans out for each part of the stunt. The second half of the issue deals with, Agent Tarney Winfield representing the government approaching Zoe about the previous mentioned disaster that is heading towards earth. As it turns out her training as a stuntwoman has helped her develop certain skills that the government feels are needed in order to make the mission successful. The interaction between Agent Tarney Winfield and Danni provides for some great comedic moments as they share movies quotes and plots of disaster moves as they discuss the plan to avoid earths destruction.

The art here tends to lean more towards the realistic side. Facial expressions help to tell the story of Danni and Zoe’s feelings and thoughts without being over the top cartoonish. The bright blues during the stunts as compared to the dark blues and blacks used within the government building give you sharp contrasts in the setting. The panels read the traditional left to right, top to bottom with very few splash pages. It makes it easy to follow the action while providing insight to the intentions of the writer.

Verdict :
Buy It! Zoe Dare vs the Disasteroid is a fun read that is a little bit different than anything else that is out there right now. So many comics are filled with superheroes doing superhuman things in order to save the world. Here you get the chance to see how a everyday person with a unique skill set steps up and does what needs to be done in order to try and save earth. It will be fun to watch where the story goes next and what types of things are going to challenge our heroine as she tries to save humanity.