Jennika #1: It’s Fine, We’re All Still Adjusting

Two stories that take us on a journey that we’ve waited for and wondered if at some point we were going to it. Well, Jennika (the mini-series) has arrived and the first issue delivers on entertainment and continues in the current storyline from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Both stories dive into Jennika and her current state of mind, and emotions dealing with her current life. With The Cure for You, we see the familiar Jennika roaming the neighborhood interacting with its passersby until she sees Vincent running to the end of the Mutant Zone, which is forbidden for said species. Vincent is met with a trap net that we find out to belong to non-other than Casey Jones and his group.

Well, one thing leads to another and it becomes an awkward reunion between Jenny and Casey. Vincent is released and it comes out that he’s in a punk band, and that was enough for Jennika to realize that maybe Vincent isn’t all that bad. As the book goes on, the trip behind her eyes gets a bit deeper. Seeing signs and different advertisements starts to build up and becomes too much and we clearly see her emotions start to take over. Pulling herself together and following Vincent to the Kennel Klub to where not only will get her pet up aggression out in the mosh pit but run into someone she couldn’t have ever imagined she’d run into ever again…Sylis, her old boyfriend. Feelings come back from the past and we see the betrayal from Sylis, and why Jennika feels the way she does. The Cure for You does a great job of building on to Jenny’s past and letting us in through the front door. Just when we are getting comfortable, we see Sylis telling Jenny he has a cure for the mutants. We have 3 more issues to dig into a mine of nothing but excitement about a character that has achieved cult status in record time. The next and final story of this astounding first issue Time and Again, we see a softer side of Jennika. Splitting scenes from jail and when she’s under the tutelage of Master Splinter, she sees a familiarity of how they both made her feel. I do feel that both stories could have been weaved into one, but they do both deliver on different parts of Jenny and her past, and her present. The art overall for both stories lend a hand at the storytelling and matched it well.

I don’t think you could have asked for much more from this issue. The pace of the storytelling was easy and smooth, and it left you wanting more.