A New Hero Soaring Above Shanghai – Aero #1 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Aero, aka Lei Ling, is an architect, but today she must bring down skyscraper. It suddenly came to life and is rampaging across Shanghai. Aero is the only one there to stop it, and she will no matter what it takes. While fighting, she reminisces on a few months back when she was still new to her powers and only considering becoming a hero, and now she has made that a reality.
In a back-up story, Wave has gone missing, and Aero finds her in self-imposed exile. Aero intends to discover why Wave did this.
Aero #1 kicks off the new solo series for Lei Ling, whom we met during the War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas miniseries. In that story, we only got a passing impression of Aero and her personality. With this series, will hopefully get to know this hero of Shanghai.
This first issue is a pretty solid introduction too. We learn of Lei Ling’s profession, how she views herself and Shanghai, and how confident she is in her abilities and ability to protect her city.
It feels a little kneecapped in how much space it loses to the backup tale, but that is a solid story too. Plus, it gives us more of a view of Aero as a character.
The battle sequence is quite astonishing too. The art, which is done in a manga/anime styling, emphasizes the intensity and free-flowing nature of the battle between Aero and the concrete monster which she fights. Keng knocks it out of the park with this comic, and the color art is dazzling to boot. Pop Mhan contributes a more western comic style in the back-up tale, and it looks quite good too. The powers of Aero and Wave are presented in a dazzling fashion, and the color art of Federico Blee is very strong here too.
Aero #1 is an exciting first issue for this new Marvel superhero. Lei Ling is an interesting, fun, and compelling lead character, and the threats she faces in this issue make for great conflict. This one gets a recommendation for sure. Check it out.
Aero #1 comes to us from writers Zhou Liefen and Greg Pak, artists Keng and Pop Mhan, color artists Keng and Federico Blee, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna, cover artist Keng, and variant cover artists Artgerm, Mirko Andolfo, and John Tyler Christopher.
Final Score: 8/10
