The classic literary character Captain Nemo’s having a renaissance this year, being featured in several shows and books including the new AMC+ show Nautilus (which is terrific, check it out!) and IDW’s miniseries Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theater, where Nemo’s creator Jules Verne joins a team battling Godzilla! Now, Dark Horse gives us a four-issue miniseries featuring Lumen, Nemo’s granddaughter, in The Adventures of Lumen N. #1, written by James Robinson with art by Phil Hester and Marc Deering and colors by Bill Crabtree. She’s every bit as brilliant and adventurous as her grandpa.
There have been a ton of discrepancies in the past with Nemo’s ethnicity. Fortunately, this miniseries portrays Nemo and Lumen as Indian, which matches Jules Verne’s original vision for the character. The most delightful scenes come early in the issue, showing young Lumen romping in her homeland of Bundelkhand, India with her cousin, her pet tiger Miss Stripes and her pet monkey Iggy. These scenes show us everything we need to know about Lumen: she’s a tomboy who loves pushing herself to her physical limits, is rarely scared of anything and has a deep love for nature and animals. She’s also incredibly smart, being tutored in multiple languages as well as advanced mathematical and scientific concepts. Miss Stripes and Iggy are adorable too.
In one scene, James Robinson writes an extended conversation between Lumen and her aunt Meera, which on the surface seems like a typical 13-year-old arguing with their caretaker about wanting less studying and more playtime. But it cleverly reveals a lot about Lumen’s backstory. It’s a great bit of writing, revealing information organically rather than dropping it through a mountain of exposition.
Dark Horse
Other equally interesting characters are introduced throughout the issue, including a dapper character similar to John Steed from the old Avengers TV show and a bulky brawling Professor. We’re also reintroduced to Nemo himself, who we find living a hermit-like existence beneath the ocean near The Mysterious Island (this story takes place months or maybe years after the end of Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island novel).
Phil Hester and Marc Deering’s art is captivating and brings both the underwater world of Nemo and the exotic landscapes of India to life. I especially loved Nemo’s Jack Kirby-style contraptions, which would have made “The King” proud with their bizarre sinewy tubes and jeweled sockets spitting out steam and all rendered in lavish detail.
The issue’s climax has an army composed of steampunk tanks and robots (along with masked soldiers wielding energy rifles) attacking the compound where Lumen lives, trying to take her away. It’s a spectacular sequence where Lumen, her pets, her aunt and everyone else in the compound fight back and show that they’re all warriors. But who is the attacking army working for and why do they want Lumen?
James Robinson provides a wonderful three-page section after the issue’s conclusion, providing background information on Jules Verne’s novels featuring Nemo.
Robinson also says he’ll be using other characters throughout the miniseries that are pulled from fiction of that time period (the late 19th Century to early 20th Century). Could we possibly get Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu as a nemesis or Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan as an ally?
I’m excited to see where the miniseries goes next and what a dazzling array of characters are in store. This a fantastic debut to the miniseries, featuring Jack Kirby-style steampunk gizmos, a courageous lead character in Lumen and the promise of adventures around the world.
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