JENNA BLUE is the tale of an unusual assassin who finds more than she's looking for on her latest job. While on the surface this sounds like any other story about a hired gun in a heap of trouble, the slight twist here is the gun in question doesn't exactly blend in with the rest of society due to her bright blue skin.
Jenna Blue is an assassin for hire who is very good at what she does and has a knack for eliminating the competition as well as the intended target. She manages to do both within the first issue, keeping the pages action packed, but the target turns out to be an unexpected surprise to Jenna as he is revealed post-mortem to have the same color skin as she. Pretty soon Jenna Blue is immersed in a sea of conspiracies and other killers-for-hire who have been recruited to take her out by any means necessary, all for a reason she doesn't fully understand.
Jenna has a sharp sense of dark humor and a habit of insulting/threatening everyone she meets, which is highly enjoyable if not a bit cliche. She's pretty bad-ass and a killer completely without a conscience is always fun to read. The plot is not terribly complex and the big reveals aren't too hard to figure out, but the combination of a sassy (and pissed off) blue chick armed with many weapons plus plenty of action and an alien conspiracy make for an entertaining story.
At first glance the artwork was not exactly my favorite style, but the long faces on the characters rather grew on me and shortly into the first issue it really felt like the perfect look for Jenna and her supporting cast. The coloring (or lack thereof) is the best part about the book; the mainly grayish tones more than succeeded in its purpose of causing Jenna's red lips and blue skin (and the blood of her victims) practically pop off the page.
All in all JENNA BLUE is a slightly dark and easy read coupled with outstanding visuals, and a bargain at only eight bucks for over one hundred pages of story, making it worth checking out for the assassin junkie.
Avril Brown
See the original review at: http://reviews.comicswaitingroom.com/2009/07/17/jenna-blue.aspx
To be honest though, Jenna is incredibly unlikable; her shielding as a defense mechanism makes her incredibly witchy. She's a good assassin and pretty strong at her job. She knows all there is to know about weapons apparently (which is shown twice with the same type of throwing knifes), and is a marksmen with a gun.
The story itself managed to catch me off guard and I wasn't able to call the big reveals until right as they were happening. My main complaint is the fact that the over all book just felt like setup, as if they were planning on it being the first ongoing series. Which is cool, it just felt a little more open-ended than our first three stories.
Steve Gendron's artwork here reminds me of a mix between Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. Which is a very good thing as those two men have become two of my favorite artists. The cover is nothing like what you get in the book itself, but definitely a great piece of artwork. The use of barely any color to make the blue in the story unique is an excellent idea and it would be interesting to look at Jay's script to see how he explained the idea.
So all in all, Jenna Blue seems like episode 1 in a continuing story that I hope we see more of in the future. It's action/suspense/thriller and science fiction all combined into 1 neat little package.
Jenna Blue by SebastianPiccione
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Title: Jenna Blue Publisher Name: Outlaw Entertainment Writer: Jason M. Burns Art: Steve Gendron & Ciaran Lucas 7.99, 112 pages, Color
Safety Content Label: T+ TEENS AND UP - Appropriate for most readers 13 and up, parents are advised that they might want to read before or with younger children.
Publishers Blurb: Artist: Steve Gendron & Ciaran Lucas Cover Artist: Nick Bradshaw & Dustan Evans
Description: Jenna Blue is the story of a ruthless female assassin with pale blue skin, a condition so rare that only a small handful share in it. When Jenna discovers her most recent targets all have the similar pigmented epidermis, a mystery unfolds, revealing that she and others like her may be the result of a genetic experiment that first began in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.
Reviewer Comments: While this wasn't my favorite offering from OUTLAW PRODUCTIONS, it's still a pretty good book.
Jenna Blue is the tale of a female assassin caught up in a bigger plot. Heard it before? No. You haven't.
This book definitely twists and turns, zigging when you expected a zag. It keeps you guessing.
My problems with the book were twofold.
1- I felt the writing wasn't as tight as some of Burns' other books. I LOVED him on HAT TRICK and IMAGINARY FRIENDS. This one had, what I felt to be, some clumsy dialogue and cumbersome captions.
2-The art. I realize there is a stylized thing going on here, and I'm cool with that. It's just that it was very inconsistent, with people and objects shifting in size and shape, and the anatomy and proportions were off a little too much to be explained SOLELY by style.
That said, here was something in the art that made me think of the old DUCKMAN cartoon, so ya gotta give it props for that! And it wasn't badly written, I enjoyed the story and liked what was done here, it just didn't seem to flow as well as Burns other works.
Still in all, a highly enjoyable read with an open enough ending to warrant further adventures. And I'd certainly be willing to give Jenna another go.
Jenna Blue OGN - Review
Issue: Jenna Blue OGN Creator: Jason M Burns Writer: Jason M Burns Artist: Steve Gendron, Ciaran Lucas Cover Artist: Nick Bradshaw Publisher: Outlaw Entertainment Release Date: July 2009 Pages: 112 Price: $7.99
"Jenna Blue is the story of a ruthless female assassin with pale blue skin, a condition so rare that only a small handful share in it. When Jenna discovers her most recent targets all have the similar pigmented epidermis, a mystery unfolds, revealing that she and others like her may be the result of a genetic experiment that first began in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947."
Artwork: 3.8 out of 5 I liked the look of this book overall. I thought for the most part the drawings very strong and the male characters remained consistent. My only drawback came maybe once every 10 pages where I would feel that Jenna was a bit off. However it was a rare occasion compared to the whole. What I liked the most was the use of the color blue in what was almost a colorless issue. I like it when a book can use something as simple as a color to give it definition.
Story: 3.8 out of 5 The story was very cool. I liked the idea of her being built up as an outcast due to her birth defect and going into that line of work. I really enjoyed the way the book was going until halfway when a twist came about. I felt that the part of her being a killer was kind of just cut short to pursue this new venture. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like where it went. It just means I liked where it was going and it switched. Overall though I love the complete story and is worth every penny.
Dying Breath: 3.8 out of 5 Jenna Blue is a great fun thrilling story to read. The artwork is strong and the story takes you on a winding ride full of twists and turns. I would pick this one up again and I hope that they are working on a part 2 because this one has that feeling that more is going to come. I like what I have read so far from Outlaw Entertainment they give you an awesome story for your $8 and how can you beat that?
For more info on Jenna Blue and to purchase this volume please go to http://outlaw-entertainment.com/ You can also order any Outlaw trade through Diamond and Haven.
See the original review at: http://fromthetombmagazine.tk/
