Publisher: IDW Publishing (Darby Pop)
Writer: Jeff Marsick
Artist: Luca Reguzzoni
Release Date: 27th May, 2015

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Looking at the front cover of this issue, I’ll admit that my heart sank just a little. Here we go with another series that uses sexuality as its selling point. The artwork inside is more of the same, including the main character stripping down in the first few pages.

Moving past that, this is an origin story of the Indestructible character ‘Stingray’ (cards on the table, I had never heard of this IDW prior to reviewing this book) which appears to be set 5 years before the current series. In it, we see her joining the ‘League of Defenders’ in front of the media, and witness her first heroic act as part of the team. She is shunned initially by another female member, Princess Power, who sees her addition as a publicity stunt.

Stingray comes across as a bit overawed and naïve to the world she has just entered, but we learn quickly that there is more to her than meets the eye. While she isn’t a Transformer, she is an insider for her criminal father who is blackmailing her to steal data from the League’s headquarters. Her big secret is that her brother took the fall for the murder and arson that she committed.

At this point, I can forgive the overly sexualised art style as the reader – along with the other League members – has been suckered into believing that Stingray is a wide eyed, naïve ‘pretty face’. Fortunately, Stingrays also have poison stingers and in this case the poison may be fatal for the rest of the team. 

I’m interested to see how the story continues but hope they tone down the artwork just a bit as it’s obvious that the intriguing plot can more than carry the book on its own merits.

Rating: 4/5.

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The writer of this piece was: David Gladman

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