Kesel and Hahn Deliver the Impossible: A Comic Book that's Fun

I've heard the argument (heck, I've made the argument) repeatedly that crowdfunding platforms are the new go-to source to find good, entertaining comic book material.

Never have I felt more vindicated in this regard than with my recent acquisition of Impossible Team-Up "A": Impossible Jones & Holly Daze. From the first page splash to the page-turning reveal of the situation, this book is the right mix of light-hearted fun with serious action and adventure.

The story focuses on the characters of Impossible Jones, a thief given super-powers and mistaken for a hero, and Holly Daze, a former superhero disgraced and turned to villainy. Imp (to her friends) has a power set similar to Plastic Man, while Holly is more of a girl of gimmicks, all of which are holiday-inspired. She's also the former sidekick to a truly psychopathic murderer, Krampus, whose memory continues to haunt her. When Imp and Holly befriend another girl dressed like Imp at a night club with a cosplay theme, they discover the next morning the girl has been murdered with Christmas lights. The immediate focus is put on Holly, and the police have turned to Imp for help tracking her down and bringing her in.

Except Imp and Holly are best friends; and Holly's story is that she is sure Krampus is back -- from the dead, potentially -- and is doing this to haunt her even further. It's up to Imp to find the real killer, if indeed Holly is not the killer after all. And she has to do it while under the watchful eye of Detective Angeni Bright-Raven. 

The book also contains a backup feature introducing the character of Even Steven, a mystery man reminescent of The Question or The Odd Man, whose schtick is that he's always evenly matched with whomever his opponent is. It's an intriguing short, with a setup that promises multiple "secret origins" of the character to come.

David Hahn's artwork resides somewhere on the realism side of Bruce Timm's animated universe work; cartoonish enough to be fun, realistic enough to not feel like you're reading a cartoon book. And Kesel's writing draws the reader in to Imp's world, which under the surface is one of paranoia that the world is finally going to catch on that she's not who she is pretending to be. Put them both together, and what you have is an addicting cocktail of comics that will remind you why you got into this hobby in the first place.

Being a crowdfunded book, this issue includes a two page spread in the back thanking all the backers. Additionally, it does something I've not seen other crowdfunded books do -- it draws attention to those who chose the "drawn into the book" tier by showing thumbnails of the scenes they were in, juxtaposed with the photo they submitted for comparison. 

If you find this book on eBay, or by chance it becomes available to the mass market in another form, grab it up. You can thank me later.