‘Jenny Zero #1’ (review)

Written by Dave Dwonch, Brockton McKinney
Art by Magenta King
Published by Dark Horse Comics

Jenny Zero is the new Dark Horse comic book written by Dave Dwonch and Brockton McKinney and illustrated by Magenta King.

Issue one introduces us to a dystopian Japan where Tetsuo, a young and slightly disheveled woman is just waking up from a night’s sleep to discover that her city is being attacked.

Tetsuo, at one point, worked for a government agency fighting aliens. She is now being asked to rejoin said agency in order to stop yet another imminent invasion of flying monsters. She is reluctant to do so because of past experiences and so we follow her as she leads a life of sin and debauchery leading up to her final decision to join or not.

Her decision will not only have very dire consequences for the plant but she personally will be altered forever.

I found Jenny Zero to be a fun read. It is one part manga and one part William Gibson mixed with The Fifth Element and sprinkled with a healthy serving of Cronenberg. Its title is a seeming homage to the Gibson Book Count Zero and its main character Tetsuo from Akira.

It is a story we have seen before and there isn’t anything wrong with that.

In fact, the story reminds me of some that I might have seen in the old Dark Horse Presents comics anthology that I loved. So far it is a super solid story enhanced by beautiful artwork by Magenta King that really enhances the tale Dwonch and McKinney have brought forth.

The ending of issue one was a nice little cliffhanger that I wasn’t expecting and I look forward to the next and subsequent issues to see where they are ultimately going with this story.

Overall it is refreshing to read a non-superhero comic book nowadays that relies heavily on sci-fi and fantasy. This was something back in the day that I could always rely on Dark Horse to deliver to me and why it remains one of my favorite publishers of comics. They really are the American equivalent to Humanoids Press.

Jenny Zero continues that legacy of cool cyberpunk-esque, manga, and European style stories and to me there is no higher praise.