Have You Read … ECHO?
October 21, 2009Echo (Vol. 1): Moon Lake, Terry Moore
Terry Moore’s first installment of his new sci-fi/action/drama series starts with a bang—a nuclearish-sized bang that rains down bio-metal pellets on unsuspecting photographer Julie Martin. The pellets hail from a flying battle suit being field-tested by Annie Trotter; that is until the military decides to blow it—and Annie—into BB-sized pieces for “research purposes.” The pellets stick onto Julie and mold together to form a Xena-esque breastplate, which prompts her to run around trying to figure out the usual what/where/whys of top-secret military experiments in the desert gone wrong. On the way, she enlists the help of State Park ranger Dillon Murphy, who happens to be the distraught (and now ex) boyfriend of Annie.
Seeing as Julie’s in the process of a painful divorce and Dillon’s main squeeze was just wrenched from his life via Project Bomb Alien Metal Suit With Woman Still In It, a slightly romantic vibe starts to edge out between them at the end of the issue, but it seems a bit forced this early into the story. But in the meantime, the two are on the run from the military, who know that Julie was at the blast site (because they’re the military and know everything) and have hired the freakishly talented super-agent Ivy Raven to hunt them down.
The plot is slow as to divulging information; by the end of the issue we’ve acquired more mysteries than we’ve solved, but the female characters are classic Moore entities: strong, correctly proportioned, and oh-so witty. It’s enough to leave you wanting more, if for nothing else than to see if Julie turns in to a kick-butt modern Iron Woman. Read another review at Weekly Comic Book Review. If you’re not up to reading the comic (for shame!), then lucky for you a movie deal has just been reached for Echo the Movie with Watchmen/Hellboy producer Lloyd Levin.
Follow Terry Moore on his blog.
This comic is recommended for Teen readers, ages 13 and up.