Kameelman #1
By T-Bone, Ron Randall and James Taylor
Published by A-1 Oregon Publishing
Angel meets The A-Team in this independent release, a black-and-white adventure comic firmly grounded in human concerns, despite its pseudo-scientific premise.
The hero of the book is a young half-man, half-chameleon (Kameelman!) who, like Angel, is a moody super-powered leader of a fantastically skilled group of young people who work to help others (which I know they do on Angel, too, but there's a real A-Team vibe nonetheless).
This debut issue (shipping around November 20th) sees Zack (the Kameelman) infiltrate a high school to assist a teenager who's being tormented by a violent pair of twins who get away with murder because they are also star athletes. Zack's powers allow him not only to alter his appearance to look like a relative of the victim of these attacks, but to absorb the thoughts and feelings of his client, and so to better understand his plight. It's never quite explained why having the ability to look like someone would also lead to such empathetic absorption, but this is a book about a half-man, half-chameleon, so I presume if you're willing to even crack it open you're willing to suspend some disbelief.
The script's a bit over-written and melodramatic, and the anti-violence message is kind of heavy-handed -- there's even information about an apparently real anti-violence program in the back -- but the flaws of the script are somewhat offset by the confident storytelling and clear, well-composed artwork.
Penciler Ron Randall is a longtime comics veteran whose work has never appealed much to me, but he contributes a real professional sheen to the story, with generally eye-pleasing layouts. Inker James Taylor is well-suited to Randall's style and provides a strong sense of contrast to the black and white art, which is nicely reproduced on glossy paper stock.
Despite its somewhat goofy title and derivative premise, Kameelman is a strong debut for an independent comic. I was a little put off by the clear agenda of this story, but there are worse messages to send than "violence is bad." I just think that with a little more emphasis on the characters (we learn next-to-nothing about anyone other than Zack here) and a little less on the message, the book could be a fun regular read. If you're a reader of such independent titles as Valentine, The Forgotten or Fade from Blue, you might want to give Kameelman a look. Grade: 3/5.