Rainbow Brite Shining Brighter for All Ages in Second Issue

There are too few all-ages books on the shelves these days, and even fewer that feature characters which parents can recognize and, thus, feel comfortable about when selecting comics for their kids.

Dynamite Comics holds the potential to make some great headway into this market with their licensing of the franchise RAINBOW BRITE, and utilizing the characters to create a superheroic mythos.

Young Wisp has disappeared from Earth, having been chased by monsters that were eating -- of all things -- the color blue from items in her neighborhood late at night. Meeting up with the friendly creature known as Twinkle, she ends up teleporting to Rainbow Land -- which is nothing at all like it's name, having been drained of all colors by the King of Shadows and his ally, Murky Dismal, a scientist who has found a way to mine color for fuel. The King of Shadows has found ways to drain the light from everyone in the land, turning them to creatures of darkness.

Wisp realizes that the creatures are not themselves at fault, and can be turned back to their original good selves if they are exposed to white light. There's actually a bit of a science lesson in here about the makeup of white light and the color spectrum, which Twinkle explains. The only way to create this light, however, is to obtain the Star Scepter and the Rainbow Belt, To obtain them, Wisp will have to infiltrate Murky Dismal's castle and get past his monster, Lurky.

There's no reference in this issue to what's happening on Earth during this time, or how Wisp's friend, Willow (not to mention Wisp's mother) is handling Wisp's sudden disappearance, but there is possibly a good reason for that. Twink tells Wisp that time flows differently in Rainbow Land than it does in her world. It might be that when Wisp returns to Earth, only a few minutes will have passed. Or it could be that she'll be reunited with Willow as a grown woman.

Either way, one thing is clear at the end of this issue: Wisp will be transformed.

Jeremy Whitley and Brittney Williams continue to deliver an engaging story that draws upon a rich lore of characters and themes, modernizing them while keeping them kid-friendly. In a world overrun by the grim and gritty, RAINBOW BRITE shines!