The Mighty Golden Patriot vol. 1 is a graphic novel written by Yellowflash. It’s a story that begins in World War 2 with the main character, Jack Rogers, searching for occult Nazi activity. It then blends a superhero narrative in, as well, to combine two classic storyline types. By the end it has the feeling of Captain America and Indiana Jones. Since these are two of my favorite characters, The Mighty Golden Patriot was already following a plotline that had me interested.

The story begins with the characters looking for the Nazi occult activity reported to be in the North African theatre. This should feel familiar to many readers, it’s a classic opener. The action of the story picks up immediately and basically never stops throughout the book. There is a quick introduction into the lead, Jack Rogers, and how he obtains his powers. The writing does a good job of showing the various different abilities that Jack / The Mighty Golden Patriot now has as well as the limitations he operates under. The plot follows Jack as he tries to escape from behind enemy lines. He meets new friends as well as formidable enemies that provide interesting opportunities to show off the superhuman feats and personality of the main characters. It was an action packed thrill ride to the end.

The artist of this book, John Dillard, does a great job of showing movement and positioning during the constant action. His ability to frame the action in each panel to flow perfectly to the next is definitely one of the major strengths of his work. There is a lot of fast paced fighting and aerial combat, which can make it difficult to follow the movements if not done well. But that wasn’t a problem at all in this.

There were a few panels where the facial expressions were slightly off. Basically, what I noticed was that when drawing an intense facial expression while the character was facing directly at the reader, the art style seemed to have changed. It look a little more “cartoony” than the rest of the panels. However, these few panels only stood out to me because the rest of the character art was done so well.

The color design of the Golden Patriot is another aspect that stood out to me as expertly done. Most of the colors are muted and drab. They are in the North African desert, so it’s very fitting. Because of this, the contrast of the Golden Patriot design with his bright gold armor shining in the light stands out and draws attention on each page. It’s a fantastic character design that really turns up the excitement every time he appears in frame.

The major criticism I have of this book is that the pacing is much too fast. It begins with a brief introduction to Jack Rogers and his wingman and then almost immediately they are met with enemy opposition. From that point on, there are very few times where there is a lull in the action to let the reader catch their breath. It basically goes from one action set piece to the next. They are very thrilling action sequences, but the reader gets so caught up in the clashes that they don’t have a real chance to think about what’s going on.

The fix to this would be extending the graphic novel or splitting it in two books. The entire plot happens over the course of about 12 hours, from what I can tell. If this was extended into a few days, even, we would have a chance to see Jack planning his next steps and recovering from the battles he fights. These slower parts would give us time to catch up on what the characters are thinking or how they are changing as people. The Mighty Golden Patriot is over 50 pages long, but it definitely doesn’t feel that way due to the pace of the action.

The establishment of the Golden Patriot’s powers and, more importantly, the restrictions were written very well. The power level and actual capabilities of a superhero are oftentimes written vaguely to allow the author more room to change things in the future if they find they have written themselves into a corner. Seeing YellowFlash immediately lay ground rules for The Golden Patriot was refreshing and a perfect way to introduce a character with superpowers. The powers are written with a small amount of wiggle room through using “stamina” as the finite resource. Since it isn’t a set quantitative measurement, the writer could get away with stretching the abilities a little. But it does follow a predictable pattern where using a very powerful ability drains the stamina very quickly. Since these rules are established so early, the stakes in each fight are clear. The intensity is heightened because we know there are limits to what The Patriot can do and if he pushes himself too far, that could be the end.

The Mighty Golden Patriot is a fun, action packed adventure in a setting that I’m always drawn to. Yellowflash uses the backdrop of World War 2 and the Nazi quest for occult objects in a very effective way to deliver something new and exciting with a mix of old and familiar. The pacing is the major drawback in this graphic novel. It really just needs a few lulls in the action to better highlight the electrifying battle scenes. Even with that flaw, however, I read through this issue a multiple times and I’m eagerly waiting to see what happens to these new characters. I greatly enjoyed this combination of Indiana Jones and Captain America. I’ll be looking forward to the next issue of The Mighty Golden Patriot. I hope to see the author capitalize on this great foundation for future adventures.

-Patrick Jones