Let’s see… if there is several genres of gaming that I am not getting into, one at the top of my tongue (which so happens to fit into this review) is, without a doubt, the aerial combat shooter genre.
I don’t know, but it’s just not my cup of WD40. Sure, my last ship shooter game kinda turned me off to the whole thing wholesale (Star Trek : Shattered Universe for the PS2) but does this mean I will hate every game that has to do with flying planes and shooting things (mostly Nazis since a lot seem to be set in WWII)? Probably not, but now try to get me to like a title about flying aces while I’m still not over not liking the flying shooting genre. Go on.

Sky Sharks, while (thankfully) not set in the age of WWII, is a new comic about flying aces.
By Wes Hartman and Fred Perry (he who seems to carry quite a burden for Antarctic since quite a few titles seem to bear his name on it), Sky Sharks takes you up up and away into the unfriendly skies of an alternate reality universe. In this universe the age of propeller driven planes is still here, and while the world is no longer at war there is still a need for those who go up into the air to fight. Fight for flag and country, fight for the hometown and family, fight just to fight. A few still answer the call to duty (not related to that other Call of Duty which recently innovated itself into a bright future with it’s first non WWII set game coming this year) and take to the skies against Air Pirates (Air Pirates?!?), mercenaries (Air Mercs?) and various bad guys looking to do bad to the good world. These Sky Sharks.

The first issue is a good way to get to know them a little better, starting off with a simple escort mission helping a convoy deliver to a Middle Eastern country, complete with stereotypical Middle Eastern “royalty”, his “harem” of enslaved females and his daughter who ends up jumping the bones of the wirey blonde dude of the team and oh for god’s sake people! Really!

Call me Glenn Beck if you must, but am I really ready for these scenes? And, well, we’re only a few pages into Issue #1 and already we’re falling into a risqué been there seen that scene. Yeah, I am sure I want to see the barely clad daughter of the ego mongering lord of the palace begging how much she’s in love with this non Middle Eastern dude and… erk. Let’s forget this scene ever happened and I won’t penalize the title for it on score time.

Anyway as Issue #1 ends and we roll into #2 it looks like getting on the bad side of a jerk in the Middle East isn’t a good idea (as real life seems to indicate), and with the gang’s mobile aerial “home” running low on fuel they have to stop off at a little place in the Persian Gulf called “War Island” (an “artificial” island made up of what is probably old aircraft carriers) where the gang find themselves facing not so friendly “company”.

And thus Sky Sharks takes off. And… I’ll admit it, I like how it starts. It’s a solid enough title that runs a little from the hot to the “hot” and then back to hot (normal), and while I am not a big fan of the risqué moment in the Middle East scene (no, really, I didn’t see that coming… right) I did promise I wasn’t going to hold it against this title… so I won’t. Wes Hartman and Fred Perry make a good team, and how can you not love Fred Perry’s stylings. Really. How can you not.

Sky Sharks #1 promises a good run that should keep us coming back for more.
So let’s give it a score that reflect my positive vibe towards it, and rate it a 4 out of 5 for this first outing.
OK. Next week it’s Sky Sharks #2 of 5, and I’m hoping my good vibrations keep going in this one (flipped through my copy and so far so good). See you next week!