1st review of The ODD Squad #1
From ComicsBulletin.com - reviewed by Michael Colbert
Plot: Supernatural hijinx and the women who love them.
Summary: Devil’s Due has billed Odd Squad as X-Files meets Ghostbusters, a great log line to be sure; the type that marketing executives and toy manufactures dream about at night. The drawback to such log lines is that the attempt to encapsulate a concept in an easily digestible sound bite (Die Hard in a bar-b-que joint) tends to infer a lack of originality in the work itself. Even more common is the fact that the log line says more about what the product wants to be than what it is; the spirit of the reference points tend to be lacking. The surprising thing about Odd Squad is that the above statements don’t apply. Odd Squad not only uses Ghostbusters and X-Files as reference points, but it honestly captures the goofball spirit of the former and the sincere weirdness and loose structure of the latter. Nowhere in the logline does it mention an MIT professor in a chicken costume or the fact that our protagonist can understand his clucking chickeneese.
That’s a long way to go to say I liked Odd Squad, quite a bit in fact. I bring up the log line thing because on paper the concept seems groan inducing; a paranormal expert investigates weird happenings for the government. Saddled with a straight-laced unimaginative federal agent she unearths the weird and supernatural while forces inside the government conspire against her. Been there before! Now imagine if Peter Venkman traded places with Fox Mulder. Odd Squad side steps the problem by being slyly funny, moving at a pace faster than your, “That’s dumb” reflex can respond, and twisting expectations just enough to let us know we’re all in on the joke and keep us interested in the bargain.
The book opens with a visual gag that expands on itself; a small town sheriff comes out of the bathroom complaining to his deputy that he doesn’t get a moments peace. He walks into his deputy being held at gunpoint. The next panel reveals that the gun wielding kid is buck naked and wants to be put in jail claiming he turns into a fierce animal at night. The sheriff locks him up and the scene is capped by the sheriff stating that the President’s son is in the cooler. The tone is pretty much set from the beginning with that scene. Enter Dr. Charlotte Springs -- paranormal investigator, foster daughter to the former chief of the ODD government agency and thorn in Special Agent Frank Flood’s side. The president re-activates ODD (short for Office of Dimensional Defense) with Charlotte in charge. Her first assignment is to figure out what’s wrong with the president’s son. The plot chugs along as Charlotte forms her team: a MIT nerd genius in a Starfleet outfit, a Chris Angel Vegas showman and her blonder-than-thou sister. Agent Flood seems beholden to someone interested in de-railing Dr Springs’ research and then there is the lady with the buzzing wings flying around the same place the president’s son is locked up. All this set up and story could be just terrible in the wrong hands, but Odd Squad plays the whole thing with a sly wink and snappy dialogue that wouldn’t seem odd coming out of Peter Venkman’s mouth. The issue ends with the stunning reveal of what fierce animal the president’s son turns into. I won’t spoil, but I will say it’s not the werewolf you’d expect.
Final Word: There were several points in Odd Squad that made me chuckle outright, pretty good for being stuck in a Starbucks with a bunch of Hollywood too-cool types. The dialogue is breezy and funny, the plot is fluff but quick paced and fun, and the art (though I’m not particularly into the style) has the right pacing and the jokes are perfectly executed. Odd Squad seems to be a rare bird; something that is perfectly marketable and still has an original sense of fun to it.
The book hits stores September 17th