Indigo Children TP Vol 1 Review

 

Writers: Curt Pires & Rockwell White

Artist: Alex Diotto

Colorist: Dee Cunniffe

Letterer & Production Design: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Logo: Fenando Rosales

Production: Erika Schnatz

Cover Artists: Alex Diotto & Dee Cunniffe

Publisher: Image

Price: $16.99

Release Date: November 22, 2023

 

Alexei thinks like an MIT professor. He perceives things others don't. And the boy dreams of his previous life on Mars. As Alexei boards a plane with his mother, he glances into a fellow passenger's mind. His whispered warning prompts his mother to warn an air marshal. But amid the confrontation, the terrorist activates his explosives. How will this tragedy change our world? And how will it signal the rise of talented young people like Alexei? Let’s leap into Indigo Children TP Vol 1 and see!

 

Story

Alexei didn't die in the explosion. Years later, a British reporter tries to find him. A tip from a mysterious source directs Donovan Price to Russia. But after leaving the airport, people follow him. And when they decide Donovan is getting too close, an assassin strikes. But Donovan knows the dangerous path he treads. He has cultivated friendships in other countries to protect him. In Russia, that man is Nikki. With his help, perhaps Donovan can find Alexei.

 

Curt Pires and Rockwell White take readers on a hunt to find Alexei and other gifted individuals. In Indigo Children TP Vol 1, these young adults share Alexei's dream. When they unite, they remember their time together. But reuniting is not without risk.

 

An organization observes each of these talented young adults. It has invested significant resources in helping them forget their time together on Earth and their previous lives on Mars. As Donovan and Nikki help Alexei reunite with his friends, another young man with otherworldly powers serves this organization. Like Alexei, he awaits the opportunity to find the Indigo Children.

 

Art

The Gherkin rises in the starry sky as Donovan Price works in his apartment. Cyrillic letters accompany a familiar symbol adorning a restaurant. A military truck trundles toward the security gate to a cluster of buildings that is not a town. From Chicago's skyscrapers to a crowded palace and Kabul's chaotic streets, Alex Diotto sends readers on a world tour in Indigo Children TP Vol 1.

 

Orange and pink fight for dominance as vehicles fly through the Martian sky. As people funnel along curved elevated walkways, several red-robed figures gather on a rooftop. After an eventful discussion, one levitates into the red sky. Orange and yellow fire destroy the blue domes. Such visions remind the Indigo Children of their distant past, while one of levitating toward the Sphinx feels more recent.

 

While Alex Diotto lavishes two planets' worth of information on panel-packed pages, Dee Cunniffe's colors imbue the relatable characters with depth and reality in Indigo Children TP Vol 1. The limited palette dazzles as the characters display their abilities. Yet skin tones and backgrounds ground you amid such otherworldly events.

 

Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou fills white and colored dialogue balloons with uppercase letters. Shrunen lowercase letters reveal lowered voices, while bold letters indicate intonation. As raised voices enlarge words, emotions change the font and balloon shapes. The characters’ eyes glow as they think purple words in lavender clouds or project telepathic white letters into transparent purple shapes. Sound effects enhance characters defying their captors and daring rescues. And then there's Nikki, cracking his knuckles before giving bullies a taste of their own medicine. Thanks to Image Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Some Indigo Children enjoy a life of ease and comfort. Others live as exiles and fear for their lives. One young man can ignite their latent memories and talents. Indigo Children TP Vol 1 is a fast-paced story that reminds readers we are capable of more than we imagine.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

For covers from the original series run, see my review on Comic Book Dispatch. 

Indigo Children #4 Review

 

Writers: Curt Pires & Rockwell White

Artist: Alex Diotto

Colorist: Dee Cunniffe

Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover Artists: Alex Diotto & Dee Cunniffe

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: June 28, 2023

 

Aided by Nikki and Donovan, Alexei, Fred, and Rose fly to Afghanistan. Finding the last member of their quartet before the American pullout could prove tricky. Can they find Ahmed in terror-wracked Kabul? Let's fly into Indigo Children #4 and find out!

 

Story

Before they land, Donovan shares his background and what propelled him to find the Indigo Children. Upon arrival in Kabul, they question American troops and locals. From the latter, they hear about the ghost of Kabul. The stories surrounding him suggest the man is Ahmed. If only they had more than three days to find him!

 

Indigo Children #4 is an immersive and satisfying read. You'll discover how Donovan's backstory intersects with Alexei's. The issue filled in blank spaces and overturned assumptions based on the facts provided. Still, it left me wanting to learn more.

 

You won't learn more about Rand and his organization, the quartet's previous life on Mars, or Indigo Prime's origin story. But you'll discover exactly when the series takes place, enjoy a rousing, action-packed final act, and learn what drives Rand's assassin.

 

After three largely self-contained issues, Curt Pires and Rockwell White deliver a search-and-rescue mission. I look forward to discovering whether the next issue continues the Afghanistan story or skips ahead to another location. 

 

Art

Alex Diotto packs 26 pages with panels, works page-by-page rather than across pages, and respects panel boundaries. He showcases the rich culture of this troubled country as our heroes spend evenings in the American quarter before exploring impoverished communities. While roughly sketched, characters look good and move convincingly. The ending sequence of Indigo Children #4 reminded me of scenes from Bloodshot and Blackhawk Down.

 

Dee Cunniffe’s palette looks limited in some panels and fully loaded in others. Sunset spills color into the sky and splashes it liberally across buildings. Ahmed's transitory appearance merits his legendary status, while a brown cat plays a pivotal role in this issue. I particularly like the map the group uses to plan their days, the carpet and produce shops in the open-air market, the ornamental decoration adorning a mosque, and the helicopters flying through the pink and lavender sky.

 

 

While characters occasionally use smaller, lowercase words, black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons or narrative boxes dominate Indigo Children #4. Alexei's psychic communication appears in semitransparent indigo balloons, but the uppercase white letters stand apart from the backgrounds. Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s semitransparent orange sound effects help us hear gunfire pierce Kabul’s hubbub, and large indigo letters showcase Rose's extraordinary vocal abilities.

 

Final Thoughts

Indigo Children #4 helps us understand our heroes better as they search for the last member of their otherworldly quartet. A ticking clock and overwhelming odds deliver a tense read, an explosive final act, and a cliffhanger ending.

 

Rating 9.2/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Indigo Children #2 Review

 

Writers: Curt Pires & Rockwell White

Artist: Alex Diotto

Colorist: Dee Cunniffe

Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover Artists: Alex Diotto & Dee Cunniffe; Martin Simmonds

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 26, 2023

 

In the beginning, he saw Mars. People lived and worked in domes and rounded buildings. Aircraft flew through red skies over tranquil blue lakes. Every night Fred watches people walk along elevated walkways that slope up and down, curving like ribbons throughout their city. Then a mushroom cloud forms and fiery destruction envelopes him. What happens when Fred awakens? Let’s tune into Indigo Children #2 and find out!

 

Story

After clients accept Fred’s proposal, the architect celebrates that evening. Over the voices of other patrons, the conversations on the dance floor, and the singer's lyrics pouring through the bar's speakers, a coworker or friend compares his visionary designs to savant Raymond Babbitt in the 1988 film Rain Man.

 

The next day Fred speaks with his psychiatrist about his anxiety and paranoia. The medication she prescribes makes it harder for him to think clearly, but she encourages him to take it regardless. After suffering from troubling visions throughout the day—perhaps from his past—he decides to flush his pills down the toilet. Like journalist Donovan Price in issue #1, this decision will propel his life in a radically different direction.

 

As I followed Fred's life in present-day Chicago, Indigo Children #2 felt more like a linked story in an anthology than the next chapter in a series. I  vaguely recognized Alexei when he appeared. Aside from Fred, writers Curt Pires and Rockwell White give no character names in this twenty-seven-page installment. Another glimpse of the last issue's opening scene—with four kids levitating beside Egypt's mighty Sphinx—pairs with Alexei, Fred, and two other people who arrive with Alexei. I had to reread the first issue to realize that the latter two were Donovan Price and Nikki, the Russian man who helped Donovan locate Alexei in The Town That Is Not A Town. 

 

 

 

 

Art

 

Fred's recurring dream reminded me of my visit to Epcot in Florida. I don't know how the theme park has changed since my visit a dozen years ago or how it compares with Walt Disney's original vision of a livable futuristic city. Artist Alex Diotto and colorist Dee Cunniffe give the Martian city a futuristic, organic appeal that contrasts with Fred's spartan apartment and Chicago's highrises.

 

As Fred's abilities emerge, white dots or stars sparkle near his head. The first time we see this is in the bar when it's hard to distinguish them from the colorful interior lighting. That's also where Fred spots the man he believes is following him in Indigo Children #2. The man wears a hoodie and drinks something resembling an Icee with an olive attached via a toothpick.

 

Fred's abilities manifest as blueprints, with white lines on blue fields. He also glimpses memories from his childhood. Unlike his multicolored present, these are also colored blue. By the time the men with guns--and the soldiers in combat attire--appear, it's safe to say the color that dominates Dee Cunniffe’s palette is blue. I don't know if it's his coloring or Alex Diotto’s artwork, but I found it hard not to associate the latter half of this issue with The Old Guard series by Rucka and Fernandez.

 

Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou makes Indigo Children #2 easy to read. Black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons shift to white letters on blue in Fred's blueprint visions. Hassan uses bold and increases font size to show intonation. He underlines commands or borders the dialogue balloons with red to show shouts. He shows Alexei's dialogue as white letters on purple clouds. (Or should I say indigo?) Sound effects—seen at night and with minimal interior lighting—appear drawn with a white pen. Big-ass white letters in the upper lefthand corner of panels differentiate current events from flashbacks.

 

Final Thoughts

Indigo Children #2 introduces readers to another person with extraordinary abilities who remembers his previous life on Mars. Pursed by government conspiracies and paramilitary organizations, can all four Indigo Children help Earth escape the fate of its nearest planetary neighbor? I, for one, hope to avoid brainwashing or accidental death until this series concludes.

 

Rating 8.6/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Indigo Children #1 Review

 

Indigo Children #1 Review

Writers: Curt Pires & Rockwell White

Artist: Alex Diotto

Colorist: Dee Cunniffe

Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover Artists: Alex Diotto; Tyler Boss; Tula Lotay; Jenny Frison

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: March 29, 2023

 

In the beginning, there was darkness. Then lights appeared. The lights took form and became the glowing eyes of youths across the Egyptian desert. The youths’ feet left the ground, and they floated through the air toward the head of the ancient Sphinx. What happens next? Let’s tune into Indigo Children #1 and find out!

 

Story

Five years earlier, young Alexei boards an airplane. He glimpses a passenger’s past: the pain he suffered during the Chechen War in 1994. His mother notices his reaction and asks what he sensed. He whispers to her. She leaves to speak with a flight attendant. Suddenly a guard points his gun at the man, and the plane explodes. Boom! 

 

 

 

 

Donovan Price is tracking a story. The journalist corresponds online with his source. He travels to Russia. He meets with an aging professor who once knew Alexei. The professor piques his interest without giving him anything concrete to go on. Donovan calls in a favor. He wants to find Alexei: presumably one of the Indigo Children.

 

This double-length debut issue takes readers on a journey from Egypt to an unnamed airport and then to England before finally transporting us to Russia. Curt Pires & Rockwell White clutch the facts against their chests, making it difficult to parse what's happening. The journalist plays a videotape of young Alexei on a VCR. Yet he later claims his source sent him the video via email. The journalist uses a satnav instead of his phone. His cell phone—or his mobile phone, as he's in Europe—looks more like it belongs to the past than the present. Or is it a satellite phone? Initially, I thought the action took place in 1999. Later, I guessed the early 2000s. It wasn't until I Googled something a character mentioned that I realized that "Now," as stated in Indigo Children #1, must mean “Now.” 

 

 

 

Art

Alex Diotto’s simple, direct style gets the job done. While his characters aren't all that expressive, they're not supposed to be. The journalist asks questions. Those he asks--Russians, in this case--refuse to answer him directly. People always sweat when they're nervous. At first, I thought young Alexei was a girl. But then, I didn’t realize he was Russian.

 

Alex’s automobiles and buildings are good-to-impressive. Roads are lines with ink blotches. Bushes are inked-in forms or shapes with dots. Yet every scene provides scale. He portrays faces and bodies consistently. A laptop looks like a laptop. Old Polaroids, a well-used cup and saucer, an unlatched window that swings inward: every detail—including Russian lettering on signs and buildings--sucks us into Donovan’s journey.

 

 

 

 

Dee Cunniffe’s limited color palette enhances Diotto’s rough line art. Color combinations change with the scenes. Yet each combination fits the time, place, characters, and mood seems spot on. Light touches of shading and highlights suggest light sources. The coloring underlines the journalist’s dark journey through a land that does not know freedom.

 

Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s lettering conveys mood and intonation in Indigo Children #1. Sometimes symbols suggest a gasp or grunt. Dialogue balloons and attached arrows change shape. Lowered voices shift from uppercase to lowercase letters. I particularly like how he portrays psychic communication and suggests white noise pouring from a radio.  

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Government conspiracies, a hint of Heinlein’s novel Stranger In A Strange Land, and an overt reference to The Truman Show make this an intriguing debut. After two readings, I don’t understand everything in Indigo Children #1, but I welcome learning more.

 

Rating 7.3/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch