3 out of 5

Flipping to the last page editorial of ‘Shaper,’ we see a little bio blurb about author Eric Heisserer: ‘…a screenwriter… ‘Shaper is his first full-length comic work.’  Yup.  The primary vibe within the covers of this issue is one of film, not comic, and is, unfortunately, something that often happens with people new to the format, regardless of intention.  And with Eric’s actual history in movies, it seems all the more apparent, as our camera zooms in and out of scenes and the plot plays out in a shorthand that’s just way too big picture for a comic.  The intention to do space opera is appreciated, and the setup of a kid discovering he’s part of a race of dwindling – and hunted – shapeshifters is absolutely rife with genre coming-of-age potential, but instead of taking time to really ingratiate us to characters or setting, Heisserer dumps on the action and one-liners and tries to keep things flying to the last panel.  Thankfully he has a competent artist in Felipe Massafera; although his sci-fi realizations lack a bit of uniqueness, that same genericness makes the high-concept Shaper world instantly recognizable, even when we explode to dragon and robot battles (yes… first issue).

Greg Rucka’s first foray into comics was pretty uneven.  And he’s awesome now.  So it can happen.  I like that Heisserer is expressing a love for the medium is his back page bit, so hopefully the series will do well enough to give him further opportunity to show what he can do when he knows how to actually take advantage of the page, especially since this first jab – while missing the mark – looks and reads on par with a lot of ‘seasoned’ books on the shelf.  (past spoiler: mixed metaphor)