Aero #3 // Review
Lei Ling is confronting her old mentor Madame Huang. She’s gotten a new student. In nearly any other circumstance, this would be a minor issue. But since superhuman powers are involved, a mild disagreement becomes a life-and-death battle in the third issue of the Shanghai-based Marvel comic Aero. Writer Zhou Liefen sets-up the conflict and allows the explosive talents of artist Keng to go to work on the overwhelming intensity of the battle between a woman of air and a man of rock. Writers Greg Pak and Alyssa Wong continue to delve into Lei’s past in the latest chapter of an ongoing back-up story drawn by Pop Mhan. The dual-track issue continues to etch out the early stages of a hopefully long-running Asian end of the Marvel Universe.
Madame Huang’s new student is a gentleman who goes by the name of Keystone. He’s half man and half animated rock. No mere Ben Grimm-style bruiser, Keystone is a powerful adversary with more than enough power to withstand any hurricane-level wind Aero could throw at him. And in the back-up story, Lei is trying to help out her old friend aquatically-powerful Perl. As that happens to involve breaking into an ultra-secure facility on a tiny island in the Philippines with a Roxxon Security System, all the powers of wind and water might not be enough.
There’s actually very little in the main feature that feels terribly original. The tropes being used here are a hybrid of stories that would be strikingly familiar to anyone who has familiar with Marvel, manga, or anime. There IS an appeal in a new character for Marvel done in a manga style. Liefen’s REAL accomplishment here lies in giving Lei just enough personality in and around the action to command a very unique presence with a minimal amount of dialogue and internal monologue. The heavier end of the characterization appears in the back-up story. Which reveals some of the backgrounds on how she has come to be where she is now. In complex interactions with a good friend during a break-in.
Keng’s art is given a huge amount of space to run around in. Action shoots off the page in big percussive blasts, often shooting directly out of the panel. Tactical blurriness around the edges of the action gives the action an intensity that can be felt at every end of the panel. Lei seems that much more heroic in the impact of the onslaught. Pop Mhan is handled with the heavy ink of dark shadows as Perl and Lei sneak around in a more suspense-driven drama.
Aero continues to look really, really good in her third issue. The lack of in-depth characterization in the main feature maintains a sense of mystery about Lei. But the background on the heroine and her daily life will be missed if things don’t slow down for her in issues to come. The action has been great, but there needs to be more of a personal angle on the heroine to balance-out a closer walk with the new character. The international feel of the comic is amplified at issues’ end with the creator’s notes by Liefen and Keng that appear in both Chinese and English translation.
