EDITOR's NOTE: Miranda Mercury will be available in stores this February and is currently available for pre-order under the Diamond Code DEC07 3385.

Miranda Mercury starts out like an old-fashioned film serial, complete with silly villains, an action-minded hero(ine), and an object of mutual value that looks like it could have come out of a gumball machine. As a matter of fact, it’s a Rubik’s Cube. No joke! I thought, after reading the first nine pages of this comic book, that this was going to be a Fear Agent clone (no pun intended) as the tongue-in-cheek sci-fi parody is clearly demonstrated. Bright colors, strange creatures, and an all-out cavalcade of action are combined for a fun romp through the futuristic landscape, one all of us fanboys have seen a million times. However, don’t stop reading the comic yet! The last half of the story, though it drags a little bit, reveals the true story at the heart of this mini-series. There seems to be a very large reason for undertaking the quest for Ronin’s Riddle, which is actually the genie-style container of an entity known as Rebel Ronin. Miranda and Jack Warning, her partner, are seeking Ronin so that he can grant a wish, one that is very essential for their future partnership together. I won’t ruin it for you, but it is literally a life and death situation that can only be solved by something with the apparent power of Ronin. And, with issue #300 approaching, these two have to do something fast! Brandon Thomas has come up with a nice concept for this first issue, incorporating fun, swashbuckling fare with a stunningly serious story that catches you by surprise. Add to this the appropriately cartoonish style of Lee Ferguson, and you have a first issue to a series that will get better and better as more details are revealed.

Miranda Mercury is the "greatest adventurer in this or any other galaxy." Haven’t we heard this before? Fortunately, Thomas’ story is nowhere near serious for the first half, so you’ll appreciate the playful manner with which he throws in old comic book/serial sci-fi conventions. Heck, her partner even has a tagline: Jack Warning, "the boy with the golden brain." Doc Savage, move over! Really, the moment that Jack is introduced in this issue is when everything switches gears for the reader. We learn about what makes our two protagonists tick. Miranda believes that the journey is more important than the destination, revealing a more introspective heroine than we were originally led to believe. On the other hand, Jack is ruled by his logical mind as well as his human desires (is Miranda one of those desires?). He manufactures some sort of illicit mind-altering drug that will hopefully enable Miranda to break on through to the other side (my nod to the Doors) of the Ronin mystery. Speaking of breaking through, you know you have a unique comic book when there’s a scene involving speed Rubik’s Cube solving! These are the fastest fingers since Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness! However, it’s the tensest two pages in this first issue, as this is the entrance to the mystical Rebel Ronin. Of course, as you would expect, Miranda and Jack get through the barrier, but what happens next is definitely unexpected. Again, I won’t let you in on the climax of this issue, but you’ll definitely be hooked for the next five issues after you finish the last page. From my understanding, Thomas says that all of the issues of this mini-series will have self-contained storylines that anyone can pick up at any time. However, with the revelations of this first issue, you’ll want to start here and see what happens to Miranda in issue #300.

As I said earlier, the work by Ferguson yields an old-fashioned feel that catches the reader off guard later in the issue, but in a good way. As I flipped through the fast-paced first half, I thought I knew what was going to come next, which had me slightly disappointed (though the art is definitely lively, colorful, and filled with kinetic energy). However, by the time I finished the issue, I knew that Ferguson had played a little hide-and-seek with the reader, along with Thomas. The juvenile conventions all sci-fi fans are overly familiar with are given a shot of adult situations, creating a comic book that works well. My only complaint would be the abrupt change of pace, which changes from speed of light to Ingmar Bergman. Still, I think that most readers will find a lot of entertainment in this first issue of Miranda Mercury, and ASP has another winner on its hands.

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