4 out of 5

‘The Intrepids’ is Weibe’s fun version of ‘The Umbrella Academy’ style science nonsense, but stripped of that’s books sometimes loftier ideals and staying more focused on the concept at its core – what happens to the kids we raise for a very specific purpose?  It gets the comic-book wash here, as these kids have been genetically modified and raised to battle science villains, but the tracing of the theme is the same, and bubbles up in the inescapable way of most kids and their guardians: we’re brought to question, we’re brought to rebel, sometimes too willingly, sometimes against our will.

Wiebe smartly splits the Intrepids down the middle in a couple ways – gender and dedication.  Half the group is male, half the group is female, half enjoy their gifts, half question them, and then the range can be further shuttled along a scale of most to least brainwashed.  During the course of our six issues, Wiebe – typical of his understanding of comic pacing – gives us enough information to not feel confused or misled, and then reveals more and more about the good guardian’s motivations and the experiences of some of our ‘Intrepids’ as the story goes along, indicating step by step how this probably ties into the predictable but fun villain-of-the-issue format.

The art style is in that pulpy, blocky Mignola vein that a lot of Image books use (which I guess also can be said to stem from Savage Dragon and its ilk), but there’s something a bit more consistent and legible to artist Kowalchuk’s style, an appreciation for a clean line that isn’t invaded by his need to stick to a certain visual aesthetic.  I know we kids slobber over Mignola, but I feel like sometimes it’s the look over the substance, like artists of that type get so obsessed with composition that it actually overwhelms things and I’m not longer sure what’s going on.  Not so with the Intrepids – I mean, there’s not really a splash page that you stop and marvel at, either, but it’s a nice balance.

Anyhow, the series never quite achieves a full-on resonating feeling regarding youth or responsibility, and it doesn’t fizzle into an expected battle scene at the last issue, but Wiebe seemed very particularly aiming for a more fun book here, similar to his Grim Leaper series, just an idea, well written and executed and mapped out, not straining your brain too hard.