Writer – David Lucarelli
Artist – Henry Ponciano
Letters – HDE

Abigail Moore wants to be a police officer. It is a strange calling for a woman to have in 1915 and yet, after life having dealt her a series of blows in various forms, it is all she can think about. An ad in the paper from Utopia City Studios catches her eye as they are calling for police officers and she sees this as her chance, though she finds it strange that they call them auditions. Arriving where she needs to be, she finds the job not exactly as she imagined, still believing it to be real. Things sink in a little more when she gets fitted for her uniform and the woman who originally interviewed her, one Miss Redwood by name, finally lays it all out for her. Abigail takes it anyway, needing a job even if she is not a real police officer but whether circumstance or fate, it puts her in a position where she may have to be one as a man is about to commit suicide. There are numerous ways to write a first issue and David Lucarelli gives readers all they need to know about his heroine, Abigail Moore by the end of the book. He delves into her past right off the hop, her present and leaves readers on a cliffhanger with her future playing out before her eyes. That future depends on what she does next and to find out, one has to read the next issue, given how entertaining this story was. Also nice to see is a book that takes place during a time in America one does not see too often these days, much less in a comic series. Bringing this story to illustrated life is Henry Ponciano whose very clean pencils really make it pop, though one does have to wonder if a more grittier look would have fit better. Being a first issue, that is hard to say, but so far, what readers get is a perfect start to a most interesting tale of a woman looking to make her mark in life both personally and professionally. While being an actress is not her ultimate goal, perhaps being a fake police officer can somehow land her a job as a real one down the road. Additionally, Lucarelli and Ponciano pepper the book with some interesting supporting characters who will hopefully play a bigger part as the series moves along, specifically Miss Redwood who may seem a little abrupt in her demeanour but someone who definitely has more to her than what readers are first shown. Altogether, it might have been a little light on action but the book did not suffer in the slightest because of it and ended up being a very good starting point.

3.5 out of 5