Jeff the Land Shark is back in another one-shot before his miniseries kicks off in July, and this time, we get to see how he became best friends with Ken the septopus (an octopus who only has seven arms). This one shot compiles all five parts of Jeff Week: The Kraken Awakes by Kelly Thompson, Gurihuri, Goodman Yamada and Jim Campbell and parts of Marvel Comics #1000 and Deadpool, which are parts of Jeff’s earliest adventures.
The first two parts of Jeff Week: The Kraken Awakes are drawn and colored by Gurihiru in the It’s Jeff style that we’re all used to. Jeff is on the boardwalk on the beach playing games in an attempt to win a lollipop as we know that Jeff loves food. We even see a call back to his miniseries 2025 when he eats a gem that gives him octopus arms in order to win the game. At the end of the first part we get introduced to Ken, who sticks onto Jeff’s lollipop.
Marvel
I really like the addition of Ken as one of Jeff’s supporting characters. Although Jeff started out as a supporting character, he’s quickly becoming a standalone character especially with his new found popularity due to Marvel Rivals, so it’s only fitting that he gets some characters to interact with on a regular basis other than Kate Bishop and Gwenpool.
We see how Ken gets his name in part two, which mostly consists of Jeff trying to get Ken off of his lollipop.
Artist Goodman Yamada and colorist Jim Campbell take over for the rest of the series in part three. It is a little bit jarring to see the artist change mid-issue, especially when Gurihiru has been the primary artist for the series for years. Yamada and Campbell’s art still looks very similar and it’s honestly not that noticeable, especially if you casually read It’s Jeff. The biggest difference is the eyes, since they draw him with more expressive eyes which works since he goes through a lot of emotions trying to get rid of Ken in the final three parts. Ken looks almost the same so it’s hard to tell the difference there. Both Jeff and Ken still look adorable as ever as Jeff still can’t get rid of Ken and Ken is terrified on the ferris wheel.
Apart from the artists changing mid-issue, I think my only other gripe with this story is the way the panels are formatted. There’s a lot of empty and unused space. Given that it was adapted from the Infinity Comics, I’m not sure if there’s a way to reduce the amount of empty space.
Marvel
The final part is probably my favorite part as its when we see that despite spending three and a half issues being annoyed by Ken, Jeff does truly care for him and goes above and beyond to make Ken a backpack where he can be comfortable.
We then get to see some very very early appearances of Jeff, before he’s the adorable land shark that we all know and love. We first get to see Jeff with Elsa Bloodstone in an excerpt from Monsters. We also see a couple pages from Deadpool #1 (2019) where Gwenpool gives Jeff to Deadpool since her books keep getting canceled and she wants Jeff to survive so he needs to be in a reliable book. I did find this moment really funny and fitting and we obviously see that Jeff has survived well after that moment and has his own reliable Infinity comic series.
It’s Jeff: Brand New Week #1 is the perfect issue to get you ready for his new miniseries. With an introduction to his new friend Ken, adorable art, and a mischievous story, you’ll be counting down the days until you can read more Jeff comics. The blast to the past at the end reminds us how far Jeff has come since his earlier appearances.
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