The 99 #1

November 2, 2007

The 99 #1 (Teshkeel Comics)
By Naif Al-Mutawa, Fabian Nicieza, John McCrea, Stuart Moore, Steve Yeowell

After a few free specials to set the stage, the real “first issue” of Teshkeel Comics’ new book The 99 is on the stands. The story sort of jumps in sometime after the first several people have activated the powers of their Noor Stones and been recruited by Dr. Ramzi Razem in his quest to use the power of the stones to usher in a new age for mankind. The story itself — about Razem and the Noor “bearers” coming in to New York and encountering another of their kind — is fine, but really rather suited for a second or third issue rather than a first one. The issue somewhat presupposes the reader will have read the free specials, which no doubt many have, but this still could have been stronger as a jumping-on point. Al-Mutawa and Nicieza definitely get points from me for avoiding a big cliche of this type of comic that I thought for certain they were heading straight for (specifically what do you when you encounter a child with super-powers). This isn’t a bad first issue, but if you haven’t read the free prologue issues, it would behoove you to track down at least one of them, as they’re all decent starting points.
Rating: 7/10