Freelancers #1 – Quick Review

By: Ian Brill (writer), Joshua Covey (art), Justin Stewart, Vladimir Popov & Zack Sterling (colors) & Pat Brosseau (letters)

The Story: Two young PI-ish ladies are “freelancers.”

Review: I hate to use a cliche term like “meh,” but that’s how this comic left me feeling: “meh.”  The internet is so full of hyperbole that if you aren’t calling a comic the “greatest thing since Watchmen” it somehow means you hated it.  That’s not the case here.  Freelancers #1 is a perfectly fine comic; there are a lot of comics better and I presume there are many comics that are worse (although I don’t really know because I don’t read crappy comics).

The set-up is pretty basic: two young ladies have known each other since they were childhood orphans.  Now they are bottom rung “freelancers” at a kinda private investigator agency.  They’re kinda sexy and kinda sassy.  They know kung-fu.  They go out on cases and are jealous of the #1 freelancer at the agency.  That’s the story…

The mood of the comic is on the funny, tongue-in-cheek side of things.  It certainly isn’t gritty or noirish.  The art is bright and perky and very functional.  Although I found the almost complete lack of backgrounds to be very districting (very John Bryne Alpha Flight-esque).

All in all, it’s a fine comic.  I’m not sure what the market is for this series.  I mean, I probably read ~40 comics per month and Freelancers isn’t even close to getting a permanent spot on the list.  Perhaps if you were more into the bright and sunny side of comics it would find a home in your Top 40?

Conclusion: No hyperbole needed as this is a very middle-of-the-road comic.  If you’re looking for a slightly sunny, female character comic, this might be worth checking out.  If not, you can certainly skip it.

Grade: C

-Dean Stell