Kino Vol 1: Escape from the Abyss

Catalyst Prime Universe

by Joe Casey, Jefte Paolo (Illustrator)

Major Alistair Meath of the British Royal Air Force valiantly sacrificed his life to save Earth from an asteroid, which become known as “The Event.” Unfortunately, instead of a hero's send-off in his homeland, Alistair unknowingly finds himself living a new life in the colorfully kinetic world created by one Aturo Assante, a secretive scientist seeking to test the limits of Kino's powers.

British MI6 Agent Gilmour is on the case to find out where their missing major is and the secret behind his return in this scientific thriller from Catalyst Prime.

Collecting the first arc of Kino with art by Jefte Palo (Thunderbolts, Civil War II: Ulysses).

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

152 pages, Paperback

First published April 8, 2018

About the author

Librarian note: there is more than one author with this name

Joe Casey is an American comic book writer. He has worked on titles such as Wildcats 3.0, Uncanny X-Men, The Intimates, Adventures of Superman, and G.I. Joe: America's Elite among others. As part of the comics creator group Man of Action Studios, Casey is one of the creators of the animated series Ben 10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Casey

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was...not good. KINO isn't even the main character of his own book. He sits in a coma the whole book living in some virtual world while the rest of the world fights over him. Speaking of KINO, Kinetic Impulse Neoterrestrial Operative, what the hell does that even mean? I think Joe Casey came up with the acronym and tried to shoehorn an explanation for it in afterwards. There's nothing original in this book. If you want to start a new super-hero universe, you're going to need to pull out all the stops and show me something I can't get from the Big 2. The book moves at a glacial pace. Literally nothing happens from issue 2 to 4. Jefte Palo's art is generic and angular. All of the characters look the same and can only be told apart by their haircut.

[Etienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part of new lines of super-heroes. This volume, and this new lines in general, failed badly in the originality. I said it many time, with the strengh and diversity of Marvel and DC in the super-heroes wolrd, you got to come really strong and original to present sometimes new and independant. This isn't the case here. A story we have seen many times, not strong enough characters and illustration that are again too average to make it come out. Not bad, but way too poor and not original enough to catch my interest and attention!

[Brad Garlich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can a superhero comic work without the superhero being present in said book? I think it can, but it sure seems to be taking a while for Kino to take command of his own title. The surrounding story of different factions wanting to take control of his comatose body is interesting, but probably would benefit from moving along at a better pace.

I probably enjoyed the last entry the best which sort of sets up the whole Catalyst Prime world and gives some context for the story of Major Alistair Meath. It also helps setup who the big baddie is in this universe where you don’t really know from reading the proper Kino books. It may have helped for this collection to start with the Catalyst Prime issue.

Although I appreciate Palo’s art in this series, the angular briskness of his style probably kept me at arms length to completely connecting. The stoic nature of his illustration style doesn’t help when trying to convey emotion, especially with a main character who is barely there.

Overall I’m interested in seeing where this goes, but I hope the next volume isn’t simply a continuation of everyone looking for Alistair Meath.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit that this is probably the only Catalyst Prime title where I'm on the fence. There are the few that I think are good to pretty good (Superb, Noble), the ones I should give up on (Accell, Incidentals, Astonisher) and then there is this title.

Casey deserves credit for taking a different tack from the usual superhero story, and it feels heavily influenced by the Marvelman/Gargunza portion of Alan Moore's run on that title. As in Noble and Summit we're following the story of one of the astronauts who saved the Earth the year before, and as in Noble Kino's Meath is thought to be dead.

Meath isn't dead. Scientist Aturo Assante is arguably Gargunza to Meath's Marvelman. I really don't like giving out major spoilers, or hiding reviews because of same. If you've read Moore's Marvelman stories I'm pretty sure you have an idea of what Casey is doing here, and this title could be one that you would enjoy.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was significantly more coherent than Noble, but since the story cuts off just as Things (Finally) Start to Happen, it's difficult to rate as anything more than incomplete potential.

[Cale · Rating 1 out of 5]

So apparently this is part of a new line of comics. I learned this from the reviews, because there is nothing in the book that mentions it (except for a brief reference on literally the last story page of the collection)
On its own it's just dull. KINO is a MacGuffin rather than an actual character here, as other groups (three, which at least gives it some variation over the regular two) vie for the body of a 'deceased' astronaut. Half of the book is done in vintage style stories that neither feel truly vintage nor justify their existence (and the artwork hints at being classic style without actually getting there). There's what seems to be an attempt to be meta while staying within the story, which is the closest thing to clever the book does, but ultimately I was just completely uninvested in any character in this collection. There's a bit more life in the bonus issue which 'explains' the event that catalyzed the main plot, but a) the event isn't really explained, b) it doesn't show how they tie into the main plot, c) It introduces characters and then throws them away (apparently these are the other Catalyst Prime leads, not that there's any indication of that in the book), and d) it provides a backstory for the antagonist of the main plot that is simply ludicrous. I was originally giving this two stars, but I think that's too generous. Reading this felt like a complete waste of my time. Do yourself a favor and avoid it.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Kino Vol. 1: Escape from the Abyss' by Joe Casey with art by Jefte Paolo is another title in the birth of superheros from an event called The Catalyst.

This title is about Major Alistair Meath who was involved in the accident in space. He has returned to Earth, but not the same as he was before. In fact, he's not even conscious when we meet him. He's hidden away and hooked up to a machine being fed simulations. He is starting to have control over the simulations though, and there is a group of people who are after his hidden location for their own reasons.

I've read a few titles in the Catalyst Prime universe, and, to be honest, none of them are all that great, but a few have been fun. What I did like in this one was the old style superhero comic style of Major Meath's subconscious world. The art was ok, but a bit too angular for my liking.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, this was a quick read. The concept was interesting, but there was so much “fluff” along the story. The whole arc could have fit one single issue and would have been a good start; but as a whole, it was left lacking. Yet again, Casey establishes something but has so much trouble delivering. Very little happens, the focus drifts from one side to another, with many situations completely lacking interest or just being pointless to the story. For example, the role of this Cable look-alike was so unimportant it could have been edited off the book and no piece would have gone missing.
I guess this is another missing opportunity. I find it hard to believe that someone would jump into a monthly series with such a terrible pacing. As a collection it hardly works; as a monthly, geez, it would be maddening.

[Gary Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been my least favorite of the Catalyst Prime line so far, but it was still an enjoyable read. Hopefully the series picks up in the next volume.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

The campiness/tropey-ness of Meath's half of the graphic novel is getting to me, and not in a good way. The same goes for Assante. And once again, I'm mixed on the art. (e-galley from NetGalley)

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to gauge when the main character is in a coma the entire arc. However, Palto's retro art is phenomenal when we are in the dreams-cape.

It's a very Sentry-esque book.

[Sesana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This just wasn't working. Kino isn't any more effective or present than a paperweight throughout this volume, most of which is taken up with some sort of vintage comics pastiche that does nothing to advance the plot. Everything in this volume could have been done more effectively in one, maybe two issues.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

When astronauts, tasked with deflecting an asteroid (later described as a meteor, but we'll let that fly) from impact with the Earth, got completely changed into superbeings, one of them was British, and his next of kin, along with most of the rest of the world, was told he was dead. Of course he wasn't – the big baddie Amanda Waller-type in this comics universe has him as a weaponised superpowered human. Until the Brits try to get him back, only for him to fall in the hands of a third party, hiding out in the high-tech wonderland that is Algeria. Apparently. The battle for the man (and against some really heavy exposition) will be the focus of this book – but what is up with the spoof Silver Age comic books, where our hero seems to be fighting the Algerian chappy?

The fact this fun read comes after some quite awful books in this universe – and after some books have presented their Volume Twos – suggests that, despite all the evidence, the creators do know what they're doing. It's just that they don't do it often enough, for we've had some stinkers recently. Here, however, we get something more pleasurable. Yes, the book is highly derivative (the whole universe is very much X-Men warrior-types, with a bonus Flash, granted powers a la The Fantastic Four), but it's an excusably derivative romp at its best. The artwork can be very naff, but that also helps differentiate with the spoofing pages, so I think all told we're able to forgive any shortcomings on these pages and say they're enjoyable. This was a good injection into this franchise, right when it was needed, for any more of the previous dross and I wouldn't have been at all happy. Upon this read, however, I was.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I liked the artwork in Nobel better, this was an interesting piece of the puzzle that forms this story/world. I'm hooked, I'd love to read the rest.