The Adventures of Miru #1 Review and *SPOILERS* - Just for the Hell of it Weekends

Run That By Me Again

Written By: Rick Laprade 

Art By: J. McClary
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 13, 2016
Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment
Reviewed By: Dan Mayhoff

Have you ever listened to someone try to explain Game of Thrones to someone who has never watched the show? Let me tell you, it is fucking exhausting and I doubt anyone learned anything from the conversation. Don’t get me wrong, I love Game of Thrones but I have to admit that if I hadn’t been watching since the beginning, I would be confused beyond belief. The lore is just incredibly extensive and I like that but for a new fan, it can be overwhelming. Why are we discussing Game of Thrones in this review for The Adventures of Miru? Well, it’s because I’m starting to feel like the confused new fan that has no idea what’s going on, but let me try to explain it to you as we jump into the review.

We begin by witnessing some sort of falling object. The text tells us that it is a visitor that is hurtling towards Gaia, the world in which the story will take place. We get a lot of background about how this world was once oppressed by dragons and there was a great war fought against a dark lord. Afterwards, the world found itself full of peace. This is when we get a good look at the object falling. It is a small blue creatures that doesn’t resemble much else. Look at the cover of this book and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Then, we see him impact the ground.

We then jump over to what appears to be some kind of mouse creature who is inside a robot and they explore the crash site. We would come to know these characters as Scribbles (the mouse) and 9teen (the robot). They find the blue creature at the bottom of the crash site and realize that he is badly injured. They pick him up the creature and fly off to get medical attention. They don’t realize, however, that they are being watched.

They fly back to the village of Tarsa and upon site of the blue creature, the townspeople freak out. Some even try to take the creature from 9teen but to no avail. They seem to imply that the townspeople are being infected or influenced in some way but this is only slightly explained. The village mystic, Cygnus, heals the creature and reveals it to be a dragon. The creature awakes to reveal that it has no memory at all. It doesn’t even remember its name. The mystic decides that it is important that they find out how this dragon came to them so he is going to send Scribbles, 9teen, and the dragon to find the Codex Draconis.

We then cut away to see what is assumingly the villain (a robot hippo?) speaking with some of his henchmen. He order them to bring him the dragon to him before he excuses himself to pray. He calls upon the Demon God Samsura, who berates him for his incompetence. We then cut back to the village where Scribbles, 9teen, and the dragon are all sent off through the back door of the hideout to find the Codex.

Now, as much as I’ve explained the book in this review, there is an enormous amount of lore that the book throws at you through narration and dialogue that I just can’t explain properly. I understand that with a book like this, you need to set up the world that you are making quickly so that the audience can understand what is exactly going on. However, most of the lore that we’ve gotten was unnecessary. It didn’t play into a whole lot and ultimately not a whole lot even happens in this issue because of it. The reason it is there is to set up pay offs in future issues. However, the problem is that this is the first issue. This issue is supposed to get me excited for what’s to come and grab my attention so that I want to read more. This issue, instead, gave me page after page of lore building. What’s worse, is that the dialogue boxes are in a strange pattern that makes the issue hard to read. When all you are getting is lore, at least make it easy to read. The art style is very cartoony and normally I like that a lot, but the contrast between the dragon and everything else was very jarring. The dragon’s art doesn’t seem to fit with the art for the world and that’s a huge problem.

Bits and Pieces:

Much like the hardcore Game of Thrones fan explaining the show to a new viewer, this issue felt incredibly confusing, overly-complicated, and ultimately I don’t think I retained any of the information. (Once again, I love Game of Thrones so don’t hate me). The story of this book hasn’t really started yet. This issue was about bringing you up to speed about the world that the story takes place in. The art would be good, but it feels like there are conflicting art styles. Ultimately, I’m not very impressed by this issue.

3/10