The Adventure Continues.

The Polar Paradox - Equator's End

Part 1 of 2
Written by Frank Martin
Artwork by Antonio Mastria

Currently not available for sale, but you can reach Frank Martin's website HERE for inquiries.

Meet you in the middle.

The team that started out exploring a mysterious disappearance of a scientific expedition at the South Pole has now traversed from there to the North Pole, then to the equator. They've lost several members of their team, and were unsuccessful in retrieving any of the survivors of the previous Antarctic mission.

Now it's down to research scientists Linda and Wanda who try to get to the bottom (top? side?) of the mystery once and for all. We've seen gigantic squid in the previous comics, along with stinging anemones, eels, and other predators. Now Linda and Wanda descend into a vast scary dark cave in Borneo.

Aided by their guide Cameron, a native to Borneo, they get further and further along. Frank Martin has a gift for conjuring up scary nasty creatures both real and imaginary. With his Polar Paradox stories he keeps it on a believable level.

But what's their goal?

The main problem -and it's not a big one- I have with Frank's story so far is its lack of a burning global issue... not to give too much away but there is a few instances in his earlier Polar stories hinting at some secret organization. That's cool and all, but to draw this out with just a tiny whiff of conspiracy á la The Da Vinci Code seems insubstantial. There's not enough of a reason why these scientists -other than the rescue mission- seem to be doing what they're doing. How is this impacting the world? How is this advancing Science? Frank has set up an interesting concept that harkens back to Jules Verne (Journey to the Center of the Earth) of a slippage in time/space where our characters pop out of Earth at the North Pole, then have to travel to the Equator after visiting the South Pole. What exactly is making this happen?

Next Tuesday:

Argh... Ye Maties! Pirate stories again with Felipe Cagno and Carlos Estefan's The Few and the Cursed!