Luke Owen reviews the first issue of Half Past Danger…
DAMES. DINOSAURS. DANGER. Summer, 1943, and in the midst of a war waged by monsters, Staff Sergeant Tommy ‘Irish’ Flynn never expected to encounter a real one. But on a remote island in the South Pacific, Flynn and his squad come face-to-fanged-face with creatures long thought dead.
As the comic begins, Stephen Mooney notes that this is, “for my Dad Dermot Mooney who took me to the movies”. And you can tell from the early pages of Half Past Danger #1 that Mooney has certainly been influenced of the adventure films of old. Elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark, King Kong, The Lost World etc are scattered through this in what ends up being a fairly good first half, but not so great second.
The opening sequence on the island in the South Pacific where the team encounter dinosaurs is absolutely brilliant. While it may not be as great as the T-Rex scene in Jurassic Park (because let’s face it, what is?), it’s a fabulous read and thoroughly entertaining. The artwork from Mooney is awesome and fitting of the tone he is aiming for with this series. It’s also quite suspenseful and you do find yourself genuinely fearful for all the characters involved.
Sadly, however, when the comic moves back to the city in the second half, it doesn’t quite match up to the brilliance of the first. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t action packed (because it’s incredibly action packed) and it does a better job of setting up the story for the remaining 5 issues, but it just don’t have the spark of brilliance that the opening half had. Fight scenes are cool, but when you give the audience a T-Rex in the first half of the book, a few karate kicks just pails in comparison. Remember – it’s all about the payoff.
Just as The High Ways was John Byrne’s love letter to the likes of Dan Dare, Half Past Danger #1 is Stephen Mooney’s adoration of 50s adventure serials. It’s pretty good and I’m excited for what is still to come with the series, but I hoping that Half Past Danger hasn’t peaked too soon and meets the expectations of the first half as opposed to the second.
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Month in Review show for Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
