The superhero genre has been around long enough at this point that not only have most of the basics been covered, but a lot of the twists have been as well. Thompson's idea, a summer camp for superhero kids, has its roots in concepts ranging from PS 238 to Sidekicks to New Mutants, but those stories all focus on superkids in school, while Thompson takes a look at what they do on their vacations. His approach is to take a concept which could be played either completely straight or, more likely, from a comedic approach and to sort of meet in the middle, calling to mind the quirky style of Mike Allred's Madman. Of course, that comparison in my mind may come from the artwork of Robbi Rodriguez, which blew me away and which reminds me in all the right ways of Allred's work, although there are certainly more elements to his style than that alone.
Thompson's script skips past the exposition and dumps the reader right into the midst of the characters' lives. The characters don't quite come alive as much as they should, as we're seeing them from very much an outside-looking-in perspective, but they are entertaining enough, and certainly the basic concepts of the issue, which range from the notion of the superhero camp to the hidden identity of the villain with links to one of the kids, are conveyed clearly enough. There's no breakdown of the superhero summer camp or how it came to be, but there's enough dialogue and story moments that we figure out that one of the kid never developed powers and the other kids are sort of waiting on them to show up and that some villains are out to destroy the camp for some reason. There are questions left, but they're very much of the "what's going to happen?" type rather than the "what the hell is going on and why?" variation.
The moment-to-moment writing is a lot of fun, breezy and captivating. I love the gung-ho wannabe superhero attitude of the kids ("Let's assemble our groups and get Operation: Rescue underway!") as much as the under-confident teen vibe that Eric, our un-powered lead, gives off with dialogue like "I'm a very powerful superhero just taking a stroll through the woods, so I wouldn't try anything!" Thompson is spoofing the superhero genre here, but he's doing it lightly, and while he does sprinkle a few "insider only" references in like calling the camp "Enokchuk" (it's a Superfriends reference), in general the spoof comes through in the casual attitude that pervades the book. The discovery that a group of villains lurk in the forest is met with a "huh, what's that all about?" rather than a sense of impending doom, for example. It's a subtle thing, a very tricky style to get without making the whole thing boring, but Thompson makes it fun and casual at the same time.
It is the artwork of Robbi Rodriguez, however, that really knocked me back. Rodriguez has a clean and clear style that reminds me a lot of Allred's early work, but which also calls to mind One Plus One's Daniel Krall and even a little bit of guys like Cameron Stewart and Rob Ullman. His ability with facial expressions is one of the best features of his art, as I love the ability he has to convey Eric's uncertainty or what I would call a "yikes" moment. Rodriguez is capable of conveying a lot of expression, but subtler ones like a half-smile or uncertain lip quiver are unusually difficult, and while it's early to be making these kinds of qualifications, I'd say that he looks to be on par with a guy like Kevin Maguire in terms of expressions. There's also some really nice action choreography in his work, especially when it comes to portraying characters in mid-air. It's a lovely mix of superhero and real sensibilities that make him perfectly suited to a book like this.
Hero Camp's lead story is a little abbreviated, but Thompson and Rodriguez get enough story into the lead to make it worthwhile, and I also really enjoyed the backup features that fill out the rest of the book. A couple of "Who's Who" profiles featuring guest art by Jason Latour and Todd Nauck give us the "411" on a couple of the lead characters, but it's the six-page "Block" backup story that is the real gem. The story, exploring the truism that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, is a cute gag strip in the Archie vein, and I'm looking forward to more of these smaller, character-driven pieces in future issues. 8/10
