- Creators: Chelsea Cain and Lia Miternique
- Writer: Chelsea Cain
- Artist: Elise McCall
- Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
- Letterer: Joe Caramagna
- Cover Artist/Designer: Lia Miternique
- Supplemental Art: Lia Miternique and Stella Greenvoss
Thanks to Dark Horse Comics for the review copy!
Let’s get this out of the way right now – SPY ISLAND, A Bermuda Triangle Mystery is bonkers. On the one hand, the story is an apparent homage to vintage James Bond movies, from the retro clothing worn by its characters to the seventies style coloring. The island is apparently full of spies, and like James Bond, they don’t really hide the fact that they are spies.
The spy side of the story is enjoyable, but the location of the series’ namesake is in the Bermuda Triangle. The result is an island where real mermaids are taken for granted – except they are bloodthirsty carnivores. The mermaids aren’t a secret of the Bermuda Triangle – the National Parks Service produces fliers about them. A cruise ship routinely comes to drop off tourists to see these mermaids, and this is where this issue’s story kicks off.
The smash up of supernatural and spy is fun to read, but it can be disorienting. Two issues in and I’m still not sure what exactly is going on or even what the ‘mystery’ referenced in the title is. While main character Nora was the focus of the first issue, she shares the pages this time with her sister and a deep dive (pun intended) into the mermaids. This issue ends up functioning more to fill in the world of SPY ISLAND than propel the ‘mystery’ story forward. I found it helpful to get a little more information about the universe the story is set in, so I was glad to trade narrative for exposition.
Fun throwaway pages in this issue include a tourist map of the island and some truly enticing hilarious cocktail recipes (the Flight 19 sounds … great?).
I think SPY ISLAND will be a series you either love or just don’t get. I recommend giving it a try to see which camp you fall in. You will definitely want to start with Issue 1. There is so much weirdness that it would be a disservice to miss the introduction the first issue provided. While Spy Island remains a bit of a mystery, in part because it has to take time to develop the world it is set in, there is a lot of potential moving forward.
SPY ISLAND #2 is now available.
Check back soon for my thoughts on issue 3 of this series.
Are you going to pick up this title? Have you already? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
