This week, we take a look at Patrick Mulholland’s series, Zero Jumper, as published through Markosia, which focuses on a young woman out to save the universe from a deadly enemy, with her trusted robot pal.

Publisher: Markosia Comics
Writer: Patrick Mulholland
Artist: Patrick Mulholland
Price: £12.99 from Amazon

Zero Jumper tells the story of Juno, last survivor of the human race who, with the help of her trusty robot sidekick IO, is ‘jumping’ through time and space to seek out crystals containing zero point energy in order to change the past. However, on one such trip to locate one of these elusive crystals, Juno is discovered by the being responsible for humanity’s extinction. This results in a race against time for Juno and her allies to defeat their enemy and undo the damage he had wrought.

Patrick Mulholland has created in Zero Jumper and incredibly action packed and epic story. It’s a story which does struggle in it’s beginning with the pacing feeling somewhat rushed and a lack of exposition regarding what has happened or is happening. This latter point is predominantly seen in regards to the science of Juno’s jumping, where questions arise as to whether she moves through to time or space or even both. However, while the flaws seem more apparent to begin, they soon give way to a truly well written and nicely crafted series. The few lead characters who appear predominant within the narrative feel to have a great deal of depth and personality, especially IO who seems reminiscent of DC’s Skeets. Meanwhile, despite this depth, all the characters have this air of mystery surrounding them, which works nicely with the overall narrative as the story contains a good sense of mystery to start with, while still keeping the reader engaged.

Zero Jumper to Hero Jumper

Mulholland’s art, meanwhile, is glorious and makes every sci-fi, space heavy page look every bit the epic it reads like. The style here has this visual look which feels very much like Descender in regards to it’s epic-ness but also looks to take cues from Copperhead when it comes to the imagination for the various worlds (best shown in regards to the ‘broken moon’). The ink’s and the colours in Zero Jumper help seal the deal on this series as the former look so smooth and help the work pop while the latter gives every panel this immensely vibrant run, which looks to be at it’s best during finale as the tension and action ramp up and the pace quickens to give us some incredibly powerful images and quite the emotional ending.

While it may have bolted out of the gate with a struggle, Patrick Mulholland’s Zero Jumper has turned out to be a visually stunning, compellingly emotional story which is predominantly about love, friendship and sacrifice behind a high-octane adventure story. This is a title worthy of your time.