Our Intrepid Heroine

This was fabulous.

I read the first half or so in comic book form as it was released, but then I got sidetracked by unrelated things and didn't get the chance to pick it back up until the series was already over. At that point, I decided to wait until the complete series was released in one volume.

It was totally worth the wait! I love Terry Moore's writing and art, and it's always super awesome to read stories about women having adventures unrelated to shoes, babies, weddings, and other "girly" things. My inner sci-fi nerd is appeased.

Basic premise: Julia Martin is a photographer trying to beef up her portfolio to go out and make some money when she accidentally witnesses a nuclear-level explosion and finds herself partially covered by scary but seemingly benign chrome fallout. She and a motley crew of unrelated characters find themselves racing against time to stay alive and stop a private securities company from making an atomic mistake.

Echo is exciting, well-paced, and kept surprising me throughout. I liked most of the lead characters, and I wasn't sure where it was going to go most of the time. There's just the right amount of action, intrigue, humor, science, and creepiness to make this series work. Also, I loved seeing characters from Strangers in Paradise! It even made sense that at least one of them would show up, but once she popped up on the page, I actually yelped out loud. My boyfriend looked up from his 3DS and went, "The hell?" because I was yelling at my comic book at 10:30 at night. I was startled that the author had combined his universes without me noticing, so it took a few minutes to wrap my brain around it and move on.

Part of me liked that there were mysteries left unsolved. Part of me grumbled about it. I'm pulling myself back together and dealing with it. Although I really want to know what was in Julia's secret box. The thing that made her husband leave. That intrigued Ivy so much. Gah. I want to know what it was.

All in all, fun. Sciency, actiony fun. Now I'm going to go reread SIP.