TITLE: Deep Dive Five #1
AUTHOR/ARTIST: Brad Howell
PUBLISHER: Site B Creative
PRICE: $3.00
RELEASED: Fall 2017

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder 

You know what this brings to mind? At least superficially? Bucky O’Hare. Google it, kids. They had an orange spacecraft on that show. Maybe the Deep Dive Five craft reminds me of that…

Aimed at younger audiences, this first issue of Deep Dive Five stars Captain Venus (a.k.a. V) and her right-hand Sam as they embark on a mission to rescue an ensnared baby whale. But their commanding officer, simply known as the Chief, takes them to task for using a ship recently flagged for hull distress. In other words, V and Sam are plunging into the depths in a damaged craft. While their intentions were noble, they may not make it back in one piece.

It’s tough to throw stones at Deep Dive Five. It’s a book about anthropomorphic animals having underwater adventures. There’s an innocence on these pages that you don’t often see. I’d be comfortable giving this to a reader of any age.

One thing that stuck in my craw: V and Sam are referred to as “Jumper and Hicks.” I assume those are supposed to be last names. But we never find out who is who. I assume it’s Venus Jumper and Sam Hicks. I won’t lie, the name Venus Jumper is pretty neat.

Howell’s art is simplistic and even static at times, but very friendly. I found myself wanting to stay in this world a bit longer. I wished the characters were a little more expressive at times. But they also have big and inviting eyes. We even have a pair of Finding Nemo style fish looking on from the deep. A bit distracting, perhaps. But also cool to look at.

The colors are very vibrant and eye-catching. What I found most inviting was the way Howell colored the backgrounds for the underwater scenes. We don’t just get one or two flat colors, but a variety of them depending on how deep V and Sam go. I love the way Howell plays with the light on the above page.

More Deep Dive Five is apparently on the way this summer. Updates from Howell, in addition to a variety of other goodies can be found on DeepDiveFive.com.

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