Publisher: Zenescope
Writer: Ralph Tedesco
Artist: J.G. Miranda
Colourist: Bryan Valenza
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

The Courier #3 introduces us to, well, The Couriers! A sort of post-apocalyptic Pony Express. Neither sleet nor hail nor raiders, outlaws or monstrous beasties called Primals will stop the Courier from getting their packages through. And no-one is better at her job than Courier Eve Harper, but when she takes on a job delivering a package for untrustworthy buyers, she realises she may have bitten off more than she can chew, and I’m not talking pizza here.

The Courier #3 gives a brief re-cap of Eve’s less than idyllic childhood and skips right on to present day to find her trussed up in the woods, being menaced by a group of weirdos calling themselves the Specters, led by a guy whose grin could give The Joker a run for its money. Before this gets too much of a women in peril vibe, Eve is rescued by Lucas and Franklin, two cool dudes in turned backwards baseball caps and sleeveless tee-shirts.

Lucas pays a heavy price for his chivalry in The Courier #3 but Eve is now free, if not overly grateful it seems to me, to pursue her trail of vengeance on her trusty steed, a souped-up motorbike and a sentient computer that looks a bit like a Mother Box, called Artie – proving that the late, great Jack Kirby’s influence will always be with us. A pang of conscience in The Courier #3 drags her back to rescue Franklin from the Specters and he now seems to be her, slightly unwilling, sidekick for the foreseeable future.

The Courier #3 is a sort of Mad Maxine concept with touches of Judge Dredd thrown in for good measure. The Courier #3 is one heck of a ride that doesn’t spare the horses or anyone else for that matter. Eve Harper may just be the newest, grittier and improved Lara Croft. All she has to do now is survive long enough to enjoy it.

 

 

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker