Jeff the Land Shark #5 // Review
Jeff has ben traveling all over the place, trying to stop a shadow demon that looks just like him. It's been up to all kinds of mischief. And he is trying his best to keep it under control. Recently, he discovered that he could control at least part of the pursuit by opening a portal to the safest place he could imagine. That place: 177A Bleecker Street--home of Dr. Strange. It’s going to be a tricky wrap-up to the pursuit in Jeff the Land Shark #5. Writer Kelly Thompson wraps-up her story in another issue that is brought to page and panel by artist Tokit Okoro. Color comes to the page courtesy of Jim Campbell.
So...Dr. Strange isn’t exactly around. Thankfully, there are a lot of other people who are there to help Jeff handle the little problem he’s having with a shadow demon that looks just like him. Scarlet Witch and Magik are particularly helpful in this regard, but Jeff’s going to need to make a rather important decision if he’s going to be able to bring everything to a full and complete resolution in time for the requisite hugs and cuteness at issue’s end.
The whole thing feels more than a little bit strange, but Thompson is clearly having fun with the series and that fun is clearly being felt on the page. Thompson’s working with a profoundly large ensemble for a title that really should be focussing just on the one, little land shark. The good news is that it all seems to work. The final issue really feels like a party that’s being thrown in Jeff’s honor and even if he’s not always in the center of the panel, he’s really at the heart of the whole thing. That’s exactly where the story needs to be at the end of the issue.
The series’ weirdly cute comic energy rides gracefully across the page under the power of the manga-inspired art of Okoro. There’s a huge amount of energy that seems to be coming off of everything. The cartoonishness might feel like it’s getting a bit in the way of the central emotional grounding of the story in places, but it’s great fun from begining to end regardless. Okoro’s rendering of the cuteness goes a long way towards maintaining precisely the right kind of appeal to make it all come together by issue’s end.
Jeff continues to be one of the more interesting and idiosyncratic characters to have emerged in the Marvel universe in recent years. Thompson has been a remarkably sharp advocate for the little land shark as he playfully rolls through the Marvel Universe from on adventure to the next. Things may be a bit shakier in other places, but the cuter end of the Marvel Universe still holds a great deal of appeal thanks in large part to Thompson and her work with Jeff. He’s a cool, little guy and the Marvel Universe is that much better because of his presence.
