Prodigy #1
Written by, Mark Millar
Art by, Rafael Albuquerque
Colors by, Marcelo Maiolo
Letters by, Peter Doherty
Recap
The story begins, 11-year-old Edison Crane, the protagonist, is confronted by teammates after he participated in a sporting event. He outperformed competitors 6 years his senior, showing up his team and putting them to shame. This scene is a microcosm of what is to follow. His teammates beat him up. Edison watches videos of Bruce Lee and other martial arts experts over a weekend and returns to beat up his teammates. This scene lends insight into Edison as a person; he’s quick learning, socially-unaware or arrogant, and he retaliates towards those who make him angry. Through the rest of the book, Edison excels as a stuntman, scientist, detective, and other noteworthy professions. The author makes things clear: Edison possess very unique powers and abilities for his age.
This issue is a strong start to this new original story by Mark Millar. Despite how insufferable Edison’s arrogance might seem, he’s an interesting character. The author does a nice job pausing the urge to judge Edison and to remain interested in his character for a couple of reasons. One, the author creates moments in the story where Edison pauses to think about situations before coming to a conclusion. This communicates that Edison is a thinker. Secondly, the author embeds an assistant, Candace, who helps Edison with his schedule and she is shown having a conversation with Edison. This communicates that Edison is not on an island and that he is engageable. But more important than this, the art by Rafael Albuquerque is strong throughout. I especially liked the way he drew Edison’s attempt to jump the Grand Canyon on a motorcycle. I highly recommend this book to fans of Mark Millar and indie comics because of the strong character development, the art, and the potential that the story will expand into something very interesting. Overall = 9/10
