JT's Take: Jungle Book #1

It's me once again everyone, JT back with yet another review, this time for Zenescope's first issue of The Jungle Book. I've read a lot of Zenescope comics over the past few years, Grimm Fairy Tales, Fly, The Theater, The Wonderland Series, and Jungle Book is the most recent release for the company. I'm aware a lot of people may not even be aware of Zenescope so hopefully anyone who isn't may garner a bit of interest for the company, so let's see what I thought for the inaugural issue.

Jungle Book #1

Summary: In this first issue we start things off seeing a story about four kids being kidnapped, I'm guessing to be sold. While the kids are being transported by sea, a storm breaks out which knocks the ship into land. On the land we see a bunch of different animals fighting a war, and the crashing ship stops the fighting as the four kids, the oldest one had to be less than five years old, walk away unscathed from the shipwreck. A Panther speaks up and says the kids arriving has done something that's never been done before, stopped the Great War, so clearly the kids must be special, some kind of omen. They decide to each raise one of the kids in their own corner of the island, with the monkeys taking a young red-headed boy, the Meerkats taking a young blonde girl (the cover girl, but younger), the Tigers taking the oldest and bravest boy, and a pack of Wolves raising a young girl, who they name Mowgli. Each of the clans raise their child to an adult, never telling them of how they got there and that the others exist, which should be interesting in the future. We eventually see an adult Mowgli, with her pack of Wolves before she strays away and runs into a giant Black Bear by the name of Baloo, that engages her in a fight as this issue comes to a close.


Thoughts:  Going into this book I didn't expect much, I left pleasantly surprised. The story of how the kids got there, the war, the animals deciding who took who and the way the kids don't even know of one another anymore were all great ideas that were executed great. I'm actively looking forward to the next issue, and this was a very good first issue to get you acclimated to the characters and what you're getting in to. It was a bit hard to explain for the review, so I'd recommend picking it up and reading it yourself, because it comes off a lot better in story form, and I doubt you'd be disappointed. While this book wasn't perfect, it was exactly how a first issue should be, Informative, Interesting and Engaging.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Head Tiger: Here, Dog. You take the smallest. It will need the most care. The runt will most likely not survive the night.