It’s occurred to me that it’s been awhile since I talked about any new comics I’ve read that I liked, and there’ve been more than a few recently. So I thought this would be a good time to do that again.
This time out, I’m going to talk about Jamal Igle’s Molly Danger. Jamal is an artist and writer who has done a lot of work for DC, Marvel and other publishers. Molly is the result of his deciding to throw his hat into the creator-owned ring. I applaud when creators do this. Not only is this good for the creators, but we fans and readers win too!
Molly Danger is a ten-year-old girl, who just happens to also have super-strength and invulnerability. She’s the resident superhero of Coopersville, NY, protecting residents from the menace of the “Supermechs” that crop up from time to time. Molly even has a whole support team working with her, called D.A.R.T. (the Danger Action Response Team).
This volume is the first of a projected four volume series. The book’s format is larger than a standard comic and in hardcover, kind of like some of the European albums I’ve seen. It’s a fun, all-ages ride that Igle has crafted here. And “craft” is the right word, as every aspect of this is lovingly and appealingly crafted.
I get some of the same sense of fun from this that I used to get from reading my favorite Marvel or DC Comics when I was a kid. Not to imply that this book is done in some kind of “retro” style, because it’s not. Igle and his crew are using all the modern tools at their disposal. There are elements in the writing that you probably would not have seen in an old comic, but they make the characters more relatable to both young and older modern readers alike. If anything, I’d say that what Igle’s got going here is perhaps something of a signpost for how people could approach doing modern all-ages superhero comics.
Stylewise, I’d put Jamal in the camp of the “comic book realists.” I suspect perhaps artists like Kevin Maguire might have been an influence on him. But for my drawing here, I elected to go my own way with it. I was kind of curious to see what Molly might look like with the old school color palette.
If you’re still a fan of good all-ages comics like I am, you might want to give Molly a look!
Molly Danger is ™ and © Jamal Igle and Company LLC.
