Misplaced (Vol. 2)

(Image, 2003-2004)
™ and © Image Comics, Inc.

There are lots of comics out now that don’t have even a single good idea to their names, let alone two, so you have to give Misplaced credit for what it gets right.

Idea One is the plot, sort of an inversion of Wizard of Oz featuring our plucky heroine, Alyssa. (She’s a post-modern smoothie made from equal parts Judy Jetson and Tank Girl, the results being a butt-kicking sex bomb who’s still comfortable enough to be some lucky boy’s best friend.)

Idea Two is have a seemingly benign Legion of Super-Heroes techno-utopia (with just a touch of Flash Gordon’s Mongo around the edges) turn out to be a 1984-style mind-control regime.

So there’s plenty of wish fulfillment appeal here and a likable lead, which only makes one wish the execution was a little more assured. It’s all more than a little awkwardly staged, though the thin art is for once actually helped more than hindered by computer coloring effects. Overall, though, it’s an interesting enough first issue.

— S.A. Bennett

Jump to issue: