Peter Pan is a literary icon who’s had his story told multiple times over the years, yet each of these retellings manages to find a new angle. Hook asked the question “What if Peter Pan actually did grow up?” while Nikki St. Crow’s The Never King asks “what if Peter Pan was the villain?” The Last Boy #1 continues this tradition by featuring a Peter Pan who is unprepared to deal with a changing world. His old enemy Captain Hook is going legit, while Tiger Lily has become chief of the natives. A confused Peter tries to revert to his old ways, but only leaves a trail of chaos in his wake.
Meanwhile, Wendy Darling is going through changes of her own. While she’s engaged to be married, she has to deal with her father’s rising illness, her overbearing mother, and somehow find the time to try and get a manuscript she’s been working on published. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, Wendy finds herself thinking back on her childhood, and how it might be nice to take flight once again…
With The Last Boy #1, Dan Panosian tackles the nature of change and how people deal with it. His script ping-pongs between Peter and Wendy, leading to a dynamic that offers two distinctly different points of view: Peter is desperately clinging on to his old ways in a world that might not have use for him anymore, while Wendy is struggling to break out of the box the world wants to place her in. It’s hampered a bit since Wendy’s plight only takes up a couple of pages, but it sets a path for future issues to follow.
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The Last Boy also looks immensely stunning thanks to Alessio Avallone’s artwork. Avallone draws Neverland as the fantasy realm it truly is; there’s an ever-shining sun, with crystal clear lakes and rainbows that pierce the sky. As for the characters themselves, Peter remains a small boy with a perpetually impish gleam in his eye, and a face that shifts from excited to confused when he meets his old friends. It’s a sharp contrast to Wendy’s scenes; you can tell that she doesn’t want to be around her mother any longer than she has to, and there’s a wistful gleam in her eye.
Further underlining the divide between the two worlds is Valentina Pinto’s use of colors. Neverland is a bright, vibrant splash of color, underlining the endless possibility of youth. Wendy’s scenes, on the other hand, are almost sepia-toned in their depiction, with shadows creeping in at every angle. Finally, Jeff Eckleberry delivers captions that are ornate in their description, as if the reader is picking up a dust-covered manuscript instead of a comic.
The Last Boy #1 delivers a truly unique take on Peter Pan’s legend, and is all the richer for it. In a day and age where most creators can only think about stuffing in as much horror and gore as they can to deliver a “different” take on beloved public domain characters, this comic is a much needed breath of fresh air.
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