Kaya #24 // Review
Jin’s sister is rushing to him to save him. Jin’s kind of important. he was raised as a prince, destined to become the Golden One who would destroy the nearly omnipotent Robot Empire. There’s a bit of a snag in that destiny, though: Jin is currently in the custody of said Robot Empire and it’s not looking particularly good for him right now. Thankfully, his sister is rushing to his rescue and she’s not alone in Kaya #24. Writer/artist Wes Craig hits a major point in his fantasy adventure narrative. The quick pace of the story rushes headlong into a major battle and a very major event occurring in its shadow.
Jin wouldn’t expect to survive his current situation. The Robot Empire isn’t exactly happy with him. They’ve got a hell of a lot of firepower and there’s no way in hell that he’s going to be able to save himself. Anyone trying to save him from the outside is going to run into a lot of trouble. The Robot Empire is everywhere and Kaya is going to have to get through all of them if she is to get to their most prized piece of property. So she’s going to have to do something amazing.
The trappings of the story aren’t exactly new. All of the “”tiny rebellion versus evil empire” thing has been done a million times before, but Kaya hits the page with a distinctly likable presence that fits quite well in the weirdly cool world that Craig is putting on the page. It’s all quite an impressive accomplishment on a variety of different things. Craig manages just the right mount of dialogue and verbal narrative on the page. Craig clearly has a lot of world-building that he could be doing in text, but he wisely keeps most of the story in the visual.
And the visual continues to rush across the page with a great deal of energy. The 24th issue doesnt quite have the same level of energy that previous issues might have, but that’s a good thing. Recent issues have been one long rush from cover to cover as people chase other people on a very tight schedule. In the current issue, Kaya has a few moments for direct confrontation that moves the series into a different direction. Quick, little bursts of intense drama explode visually across the page with the occasional explosion of quick-paced action. It all feels very kinetic on the page thanks to Craig’s visuals.
The lack of perspective on the world that Craig is building can make the story feel more than a little bit rushed at times, but Craig seems to be firmly entrenched in the story for the long haul so there definitely seems to be a sense of everything moving with quick succession from one moment to the next as it all moves with great energy....and there definitely is a very complicated and intricate, little world that is resting in Kaya’s background. Give it time and it’ll emerge quite vividly.
