VORACIOUS VOLUMES 1-2 review - Prepare to dine

(Review by Melody Werner)

Voracious is a 2016- time-travel/comedy series published by Action Lab: Danger Zone. Written by Markisan Naso and illustrated by Jason Muhr, it is split into multiple miniseries: the four-issue long Voracious, its five issue follow-up subtitled "Feeding Time", and the forthcoming miniseries that starts in October and will be closing out the Voracious story-line "Appetite for Destruction". The story follows Nate, a chef who travels back in time, hunts dinosaurs, and then cooks and serves them at his restaurant in the present day. Voracious is something of a darling in the industry, racking up thousands of dollars in Kickstarter money for the last two miniseries (which the last campaign delivered on and presumably this next one will too), earning critical and industry acclaim, and being the start of a new powerhouse creative team that already has their eyes on the next project once Voracious is completed. Voracious is a comic that gained plenty of traction on its premise alone -- and it's a truly incredible one, to say the least. But what has kept most readers' attention is the excellent execution of that idea and the unexpected storytelling intricacies that make this a master-class dish (prepare yourself for more culinary-related puns). Prepare to dine.

Voracious does not have the most impressive of aesthetics, but what it lacks in stylistic visual flair, it makes up for in raw crispness, superb facial expressions, and an abundance of color. This is a good-looking book all around, with both humans and dinosaurs rendered in slick fashion. While Muhr delivers the deft lines, it cannot be understated how much the series colorist, Andrei Tabacaru, brings to Voracious's look on top of Muhr's inks. This is by no means a Deadpool: Bad Blood situation where the penciller/inker leaves all of the heavy-lifting to the colorist, but I cannot imagine being as happy with the series without Tabacaru's digital vibrancy, though I would still enjoy it a ton. Muhr's further contribution when it comes to lettering wraps the bow around Voracious's tightness in the visual department, with typically non-distracting words and sound effects that pop--albeit there is the odd Oxford comma that goes amiss, but this is hardly the most damning gripe to have with a comic's look and feel. Voracious is a visual treat.

While Muhr and Tabacaru make this series pop visually, Naso brings great writing which keeps you reading for more than simply ogling at the art (cough, cough Rai, Oink: Heaven's Butcher cough, cough). Voracious is a comic ripe with amazing concepts, and executions to match them. The title may sound like a strictly comedic affair, but with the second volume the scope of the story expands drastically. In a lesser series, that expansion in scope could've, might've, probably would've been detrimental, but for Voracious, that expansion is a worthy replacement for the first miniseries's humor, adventure, and fun. Even before then, however, there are hints of the more dramatic and intriguing stylings of volume 2. Where the second volume removes a lot of the comedy, that comedy is replaced with good old-fashioned cunning story. More fascinating than playful. When the more serious moments come, they work incredibly well. And yes, I know that I'm supposed to be bringing up how "I'm not supposed to be saying that serious moments in a series about a time-traveling, dinosaur-cooking chef are good" but that kinda commentary has just become pretty trite now, imo. Voracious stands on its own merit, it doesn't need to have its premise brought up when discussing quality (other than to mention the quality of the notion itself).

The characters all feel natural and have their own unique backstories and motivations that are put to page in brilliant fashion, that didn't really feel all that forced to me. The Danger Zone branding's necessity for this title may go under the radar, but having read the first two volumes, I cannot conceive how this could've existed without being an adult's only ride. At least, I don't think it would be as enjoyable and interesting a read. This isn't to say that stories intended for younger readers cannot be as interesting as Voracious -- far from it, I'm looking to review a couple excellent all-ages titles soon with Giant Days and Diesel: Ignition -- or that Voracious is "reliant" on its maturity to a fault. It's just not the sort of story that could lend itself to a "fun for the whole family" vibe. Plus the ability to use profanity is part of the title's strength in the dialogue department: cussing is a huge part of making the characters "feel alive" from a writing angle. Adults say fuck, the characters in this are all adults, so they say fuck. It never felt overused or meant for shock value to me either. "What the frick" and its ilk just don't have any bite. As far as comedy goes, I would say it's more charming than flat-out hilarious. When I read that Markisan viewed this as a romance series, I was a little afraid, to be honest. There are some characters in this who are just so expected to act in a certain, annoying, and bland way where romance is concerned. "Oh, Nate's girlfriend is gonna be a bitch and the sweet "girl next door" coworker is going to show him that true love isn't just about the money or attractiveness." Anyone read and still remember what I said about Pride of Baghdad and how it shirked any expectations when it comes to anthropomorphism? Well: Voracious cleverly takes all preconceptions about romance in fiction, wraps them all into a little neat ball, and tosses them succinctly into the trashcan.

When it comes to time-travel, there are a lot of notions inherent to this idea too, and most of them negative. Time-travel can be notoriously convoluted, riddled with inconsistencies or errors, and prone to logic that makes one's eyes bleed from frustration. However, Voracious--like Chrononauts before it in the comics sphere--realizes that to genuinely nail time-travel, it has to be streamlined and easy to understand. Conservatively (no, not that type of conservative) borrowing from the well of time-travel ideas like alternate timelines, it's able to use time-travel and not make you bash your head against a wall. Which is good, all things considered, though loathe am I to turn down some quality brain damage. The reason why time-travel works here is that it is in service to the greater narrative and building something that is more inventive and alluring than slavishly pretentious.

Voracious is a comic that has continually grown on me. While it's doubtlessly inspired by Jurassic Park and Back to the Future, it has done something which few comics, books, video games--and yes--films have achieved. And that is delivering an experience that sticks with you as much as those aforementioned classics. While pop culture references can be overdone, Voracious only uses a smattering of them -- peppering a scant few in to make the dialogue feel more like something someone might very well say. I will, no doubt, be checking out the final miniseries once that comes out, and will be doing a conclusive review on this delicious read. It's not only deserving of the attention it has gained, it's also deserving of so much more. Perhaps that may seem a mite ravenous, though. Voracious gets a 9.5/10.

Must-read

Summary:
With an execution to match its ingenious elevator pitch, Voracious has earned a spot adjacent to its inspirations, being as much of a damn good tale. A pleasure for visual taste-buds with slick and clean art, and a pleasure for writing taste-buds as well with an incredibly engaging narrative, likable characters, a tasty concoction of the fun and the somber, spicy dialogue, and romance which doesn't make me cringe into my spine. Dinosaurs. Chefs. Time travel. Need I say more?

Go give it a chance, will ya'?

(that's more, isn't it?)

(Originally posted: 6/6/2018)