Jenny Zero #1 from Dark Horse Comics comes to your local comic shop on May 5. Co-writer/letterer Dave Dwonch and co-writer Brockton McKinney depict a hard-drinking kaiju fighter in a parody of Ultraman. The art by Magenta King looks absolutely hallucinogenic with coloring by Megan Huang adding to the surrealism.
Jenny Zero #1: Multiple Directions
Dwonch and McKinney introduce the reader to Jenny Tetsuo, a directionless alcoholic with a lot of troubles. Jenny feels human in how she portrays an adult disconnected from everything that once gave her life meaning. With her father dead and the job of an Ultraman style science officer she inherits from him ringing hollow, Jenny tries to drown herself out in hedonism. By the time she rolls into action, Jenny is half-drunk and playing music while shooting monsters dead. While capable, the fact that Jenny is back on the job despite psychological problems gives readers an idea of her workplace relationship. In short, rather exploitive and unwilling to invest in alternatives.
Take A Trip!
Between Magenta King’s illustrations and Huang’s colors, Jenny Zero #1 looks like the reader is inside Jenny’s high. The fact that Jenny’s equipment grotesquely attaches to her makes the reader question if they’re even looking at the real world. In a way, the drugs Jenny takes before putting her gun on is for the reader to suspend their disbelief. That is after they see Dwonch’s lettering as it expresses the feeling of waking up to a radio alarm clock announcement in sound effect form.
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For Jenny, this kind of life is as mundane as her civilian life, where she goes to clubs. The only real difference comes from how the colors of her surroundings evoke feelings. At the club are a myriad of cool colors for comfort. It’s why Jenny’s room has similar if plainer colors to rest after partying in safety. Unlike the bright orange and yellow colors accompanying kaiju attacks.
Jenny Zero #1: First Shot To A Wild Ride
Jenny Zero #1 hooks readers in with an all too human story about workplace troubles. Because with a job as stressful as Jenny’s, looking at it while intoxicated might make it easier.
What do you all think? Does the activities of Ultraman’s science teams look too absurd for a mundane person? Do you identify with somebody who doesn’t enjoy her job? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
