Ostensibly in preparation to use it as a case study in my dissertation, I'm reading through all of the print and digital media surrounding the first generation of BIONICLE. I love these toys and this story almost as much as I love comics.
Almost.
This first issue would have been shipped not long after I bought my first BIONICLE, I think. I had started to buy both this series and the Star Wars Lego based on the original trilogy and the then-new Phantom Menace. But, Lego being Lego, I couldn't keep up with both lines, and BIONICLE won out. I still build the models to this day, and I've been performing a build-through over at my other blog (though it's gone on a bit of hiatus for the last little while. Life is difficult at the moment).
(There's also an excellent chance that a digest of these posts will appear over at that blog soonish. Recycling'll save the world, don'tcha know?)
This comic is really pretty great. The new generation of Bionicle has taken a bit more of a cartoon-y aspect in it's sequential representation, but the shots of Kopaka in this comic make him look more like a fantasy hero like Conan, or my current fave, the Warlord. And this is suitable. One of the contentions I've always made about this series is that it moves from mystical fantasy to post-apocalyptic science fiction in a remarkably smooth manner. We're given a history tens of thousands of years long, and a take on reality that is remarkably novel. And, most importantly, we're asked to play along.
One of the nice things about this series is that it's also told in novels, but it's always slightly different. It's like you're reading different translations of the same legend - and in some ways, given the verbal/visual semiotics of comics, you are. Again, though, there's an element of legendary fantasy about this story, so to read differing accounts of virtually the same events lends it that feel of the ancient myths.
In this account, then, Kopaka and Pohatu, Toa of Ice and Stone respectively, meet, retrieve one of the great masks, and make contact with the other four members of their team.
Another interesting thing to note about this comic is that it was a promotional one attached to the Lego Magazine. Every BIONICLE comic was distributed this way, the stories only making their way into comics shops in collected editions. We'll continue on with the first arc tomorrow, focussing on the adventures of two more of our heroes. Onward!
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