TITLE: ZEN INTERGALACTIC NINJA: Hard Bounty #1
PUBLISHER: Devil’s Due/1First Comics
WRITER: Steve Stern
ILLUSTRATOR: Marat Mychaels & Mostafa Moussa
COLORS: Sean Forney
LETTERS: Dexter Weeks
EDITOR: Ken Levin
COVER: Marat Mychaels
PRICE: $9.99
RATING: 
WEBSITE: MarvelComics.com
SUMMARY: When ZEN accepts an assignment from the beautiful TEELA MORAVA, little does he know that it will turn out to be the toughest case of his star-spanning career.
His mission: to find QUENTIN PALOMAR, who jumped bail after being accused of killing Teela’s sister. In fact, he’s been accused of killing a string of wealthy women, and stealing their fortunes.
Zen tracks Palomar to the pleasure planet Somalla, known for its tropical atmosphere and gorgeous women. But once Zen sets foot on its soil, his problems – including being targeted by the notorious hitman QUICKSILVER and being thrown into prison with some the most hardened criminals in the galaxy – have only begun.
COMMENTS: When the review comics came back from SDCC, there was a copy of Zen: Hard Bounty. I have to admit I have never read Zen before. I did read Marat’s Blindside and really enjoyed it and was looking forward to a new comic with Marat’s art. I could tell that Mostafa had finished the art mostly because it didn’t look exactly like Marat’s art, not because I had any idea who Mostafa was. This wasn’t a bad thing, Mostafa did a good job, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.
As far as Zen goes, I had never read a Zen comic before. I know he as been around as long as the turtles have but I haven’t read any of their comics either. I just haven’t been interested in animal or non-human looking aliens, no offence.
So I picked up Zen with no idea what to expect. It was a good introduction. There was an origin recap. Enough to let me know who Zen was and not so much that it filled the comic, just a short origin. It should be done in every #1 just in case it’s someone’s first comic.
Zen is a real cosmic bad ass sort of like Dog the Bounty Hunter in space. There was some very clear story telling, I understood Zen, his world, his crew and his friends without any prior knowledge. There were some cool fight scenes, groovy looking aliens and a moral quest. It is a real heroes adventure. Stern tells a compelling story that convinced me that I do enjoy alien outer space drama. Zen isn’t a kids comic and it doesn’t talk down to the reader. If you are enjoying the Green Lantern “Renegade” story line you will like Zen.
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