Review: Neverland Return of Hook

November 6, 2017

comics, Dave Franchini, Jason Muhr, Neverland, Neverland Return of Hook, review, Robby Bevard, Super Hero Speak, Taylor Esposito, zenescope

Neverland Return of Hook
Written by: DAVE FRANCHINI
Art by: JASON MUHR
Colors by: ROBBY BEVARD
Letters by: TAYLOR ESPOSITO

“Neverland was once a beautiful realm of imagination and adventure before the tyrant, a vampire-like being named Pan—who fed on the life force of children—had filled it with fear and servitude. Pan was defeated by Nathan Cross, a former victim of his evil. And with that defeat, Neverland returned to its former glory. Now a new evil is rising, and Cross is being pulled back into the realm that once haunted his very existence.”

To be honest I never read Neverland from Zenescope before, when this came across my desk to review I looked into it. I must say the idea of a Peter Pan story taking place in modern times with the roles of Pan and Hook reversed I found very intriguing. And the fact that it’s from one of my favorite publisher’s I decided to take the plunge.

The 40 page one shot Neverland Return of Hook begins by exploring Cross’s past, giving a glimpse into his origin’s. In Neverland Hook is known as Nathan Cross. Cross is captured, and with the help of Wendy he escapes and confronts Pan in an epic show down.

The writing felt a little unbalanced. Almost as if the original concept was for a mini-series and they decided to compress it into a one shot. We spend a lot of time dealing with Cross’s past in the beginning, but all of the parts dealing with Wendy looking for him felt rushed. And then the final battle Is drawn out and detailed again. I would have liked them to spend a little more time with Wendy and her search for Nathan, again it made that part seemed rushed and tacked on. However the beginning where we explore cross’s past and all of the character interactions are very well written so over all I did enjoy the book.

The art as always is very well done. Zenescope definitely has an over all style to their art and they tend to only use artist who can work with in that style. As a reader I appreciate their consistency. Jason Muhr does and excellent job of executing the style of realism and sexy women. Robby Bevard’s colors do a wonderful job of bringing Jason’s art to life. This 2 maake an excellent team and the art for Neverland Return of Hook was very well done.

In Summary I would have to say, passing problems aside, I really enjoyed this book. I definetly recomend people go out and give this one a read. 8 out of 10 capes for Neverland Return of Hook.