LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION! HALF PAST DANGER!

 I was going to wait until the trade was out to do a review but certain events changed those plans for me. First of all, I really enjoyed the first issue and want people to know about. Secondly, I attended a signing with writer/artist Stephen Mooney (thanks to Rob at Sub City Comics) and his enthusiasm for the series was contagious. I have known of Stephen Mooney's work since his days on Atomic Diner's Freak Show where, amongst other things, he drew one of my favorite villains, the Director. He has since built a name for himself working on various titles for IDW including Angel and the A-Team. Having done this, he decided to use that notoriety to do his own story called Half Past Danger. I have known about these plans for over a year. I was privy to a preview of the art for the first issue at various conventions and was there for the announcement of IDW as publisher and Jordie Bellaire as colorist from issue two at last year's DICE convention. I was already excited about the series as I have gotten more and more into creator owned series because, in my opinion, you get the purest sense of what the creator is all about but the addition of IDW and Jordie meant that this was going to be a beautiful book. The panel at DICE also included an entertaining discussion on the Indiana Jones movies and which was best which led to my purchasing the series on Blu ray as preparation for the release of issue one.

The issue begins with the Staff Sergeant Tommy “Irish” Flynn leading a troop of American soldiers through a Pacific Island. He, like thousands of other Irishmen, joined the Allied Forces to fight Nazis. From the very beginning, you get Stephen Mooney's love of the movies. The opening scene is reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark. We get the other cast member's views of the main character before we see him and get a great sense of camaraderie amongst the troops. The main thing we find out is that he has gotten them off more than one scrape and hasn't lead them wrong. We also get the feeling that he is about to get them into the biggest scrape of their lives. The troops run into a mysterious Nazi camp that is much further east than they should be and Flynn decides they should avoid the Germans and, in doing so, leads them towards some dinosaurs. The creatures, in some superb action sequences, make short work of the troops and only Flynn escapes with his life.

The story then cuts ahead two months to Flynn drowning his sorrows in a New York bar. We are not yet privy to what has occurred since his time on the island but he appears to be a broken man. His self-pity is interrupted by the appearance of Englishwoman, Elizabeth Huntington-Moss, an American soldier named Captain John Noble and a mysterious Japanese fighter. Elizabeth wants Flynn's help (we don't the what and the why yet) and you get the impression that she is a lady that gets what she wants. Their first interaction quickly results in bar fight where we get to the combat prowess of both the American and the Asian. Elizabeth didn't get her hands dirty and tries to order herself a drink instead. Flynn is eventually subdued and wakes in what appears to be a hospital. The American informs him that they intend to get him back into the war.

I really enjoyed the first issue. It had all the elements of a great action movie. We have an interesting lead, there is fast paced action, there are humorous elements and there is a great supporting cast. My favorite thing about the issue is that we don't know everything about Flynn, we haven't found out what those Nazis are were up to on that island, we don't know what has Flynn been up to since the island incident and we have only begun to know the supporting cast and what they want with Flynn. There are questions to be answered. Why is this my favorite thing about the issue? Well it makes me want to pick up the rest of the series so I can hopefully get some of these answers. I do want those answers.

*****

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Website: http://www.halfpastdanger.com/