Writer – Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas
Artist – Michael Bair
Inker – Malcolm Jones III
Colours – Gene D’Angelo
Letters – Jean Simek

The origin story of Neptune Perkins continues here as the albino giantess named Kalla continues her story, relating what she knows of Neptune’s birth and his time as a boy. It is an interesting bit of lore which is realized by Roy Thomas and Michael Bair within the first part of this book before Perkins himself takes over the story. He does so as Kalla has stopped and refuses to answer the young man’s question of who killed his parents and so readers get to see all of the events which would lead up until this point and directly after. Neptune, though there were no indications of it previously, is a little broken inside due to the tragic deaths of those he called mother and father and if revenge will get him the closure he needs, if it will help him heal, then that is what he wants. After posing the question to Kalla again, he gets the answer he needs and discovers the murderers to be the very Nazis that have taken Argor prisoner on that small island where the Dzyan have made their home. While the Young All-Stars discuss their next steps, Neptune is not waiting for anyone to mete out the justice he feels has been coming for a very long time and takes off with Kalla. As for the rest of the team, they are going to follow for how could they not? Their friend and teammate is racing toward certain danger and there are a lot of variables that are yet unknown thus making Neptune’s situation even more desperate and foolhardy. Thomas and company tell a very captivating tale, one that hooks the reader right in from the first with the continuation of his origin tale. While there is no more to come from the exploits of Argor, what is shown is far more than enough and it is a tragic story that is woven, one that resonates with the reader and makes Neptune Perkins a far more relatable character than he ever was previously. It is hopeful that as the series rolls along, Thomas also shines the spotlight on the rest of the team in order that they receive the same treatment, endearing them further to those that buy the book as well as delivering great stories simultaneously.

4.5 out of 5