What does a person get when they cross Magnum PI, Hawaii Five-O, The Lost Boys, and Big Trouble In Little China? It could be a John Carpenter Movie, but it’s Koni Waves by Mark Poulton, adapted by Mandy Summers, drawn by Renzo Rodriguez, and colored by Dexter Weeks!
Koni Waves starts the story with Koni Kanawai, Private Investigator and former Cop, rescuing her friend Pete from a coven of Vampires, they escape to Huko’s Volcano Room a bar and lounge. At the bar, they find their mutual friend, Huko, and the local District Attorney, who has been binge-drinking all night over sending an innocent man to jail over the murder of an exotic dancer.
He asks Koni to take up the case because of her contacts from her Private Investigation work. Readers are introduced to her dad, a career Police Officer, and her Martial Arts Teacher, James Kanawai, and it’s revealed that Koni used to work at the same strip club as the murdered girl.
Koni follows her lead at the Apanapana Ballroom, contacting an exotic dancer named Krystal, who was a mutual acquaintance of her and the murdered girl.
She then follows up with an excursion to the Hopohopo Resort and discovers a sacrificial dagger to the Hawaiian god of darkness, Puea
The action in this comic is PREMIUM!
The art is simple and clean, with no awkward mannequin-looking poses. The characters look loose and natural, and the fight sequence panels are dynamic! The colors pop without being over-saturated, and it especially shows how lights, fire, and water are depicted in the art! Oh yeah, and hat-tip to the artist for showing a pretty accurate depiction of how a Wooden Dummy (Mook Jong) is used in Kung Fu training.
Koni Waves gets a 9 out of 10 for the quirky action, the mystery, the supernatural horror, the art, and the color! The only drawback to this book is the strip club scenes, so don’t share it with children.
What do you think of Mark Poulton and Mandy Summers’ Koni Waves? Leave a comment and let us know.
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