Venture starts off with a riveting five-page sequence that establishes just about everything you need to know about the lead hero, and I wish the rest of the book had the same economy of storytelling. Like some of the other Image super-hero books, Venture is off to a little bit of a slow start, but it has plenty of potential and a talented creative team behind it. Venture was my pick for the book I thought I'd most enjoy out of the new Image super-hero line thanks to the imaginative premise of a super-hero who doesn't really want the fame that comes with his job, and though it's not quite there yet, I can see where it might get there in the future.
It's hard to fairly judge this first issue because the printing on the issue looks pretty bad. I'm not sure if it was the wrong paper or the digital inks or something else, but I'm hopeful that my "First Look" copy is not what the book will wind up looking like. The colors seem a bit too deeply soaked into the paper and blurry, and the whole book as a result reads like it's being viewed through a bit of a haze. It doesn't affect the readability, but it's like watching a movie that's out of focus, and I suspect that this may be a production error responsible for the first issue running a bit late. It's just as possible, though, that it's due to the digital inks, which are a hit and miss proposition at best with current technology.
Even with the lackluster colors, though, the artwork is solid. Igle has been an artist I've liked since I first saw his work on Blackjack and New Warriors, and his work here looks great, with a sort of rounded approach reminiscent of Stuart Immonen or Adam Hughes. The opening sequence is an especially strong testament to his storytelling skills, and the expressive faces of "Joseph Campbell" and Reggie help to shape the characters in the readers' minds fairly quickly.
Faerber clearly has a lot he wants to say with this book, and I'm anxious to seeing him get to say it. The first five pages establish that Joe has powers, that he doesn't want to be seen and that he's a benevolent guy. The rest of the pages, while still providing plenty of information, lead up to an ending that seems more appropriate for the halfway point than the end point, even in the "decompressed storytelling" mode that is popular these days. The upside of not seeing the two leads together, or getting the premise really laid out in the first issue, is that Faerber has plenty of room to explore the characters separately.
Everything from the fake name Joe chooses to the way he interacts with his students and fellow teachers tells a lot about who he is and why he "heroes" the way he does. Likewise, Reggie's story indicates his ambition to the point where it's easy to see how he will make the decision that he will make in the next issue. It just seems like the first issue doesn't have a strong hook for those who don't already know where it's going from solicitation copy.
