I Took A Chance, And I Liked It

Take A Chance 1-5 (2008-09)
Dabel Brothers Publishing
C.E. Murphy, writer
Ardian Syaf, Aleksandar Sotirovsk and Jason Embury, artists

Here's another book I had written down to try some time without knowing a great deal about the story line. I'm trying to do better about making a note to myself of where such recommendations come from, but in the case of Take A Chance, I believe Andrew "Captain Comics" Smith wrote about the miniseries in one of his syndicated newspaper columns or in his regular feature in the now-departed Comics Buyers Guide.

Whoever it was that talked the book up, I wrote down the title and the writer, and I've periodically checked for a trade collection of the series without any luck. I don't know, maybe the series wasn't successful enough to warrant a trade. But a few months ago, I decided to look for this series in trade format in earnest so I could request a copy from my local library. I couldn't find a listing for a trade on Amazon or anywhere else I looked, so on a whim, I searched on eBay and found a set of the single issues for sale at a reasonable price.

Chance is the name of a non-powered female vigilante operating in New York City. The first issue, mostly set-up, gives a glimpse into the world she operates in. Frankie Kemp took self-defense classes, created a costume and began patrolling the streets at night after a personal tragedy heightened her need for justice. That was five years ago, she explains, and Chance started out taking down simple street thugs, pushers and would-be rapists. Then a terrorist attack on the city left a number of people dead, but also inexplicably granted a percentage of the survivors with super powers. With so many super-powered individuals running around — some good, some not so good — Chance decided it was too dangerous for her to continue attacking criminals directly. Instead, she prefers to prowl the streets documenting crimes, gathering evidence and then anonymously turning that material over to the authorities.

With all of that established, the next four issues of the series follow Chance's efforts on a specific case where she promises to take down a narcotics trafficker if a young junkie promises to stay clean. In order to keep her end of the deal, Chance must again take direct action, confronting both criminals and well-intentioned others, both powered and non-powered allies and threats.

The set-up with the terrorist attack and various people developing powers makes me wonder if Take A Chance was part of a shared universe with other titles, but as far as I know, this is the only story that features Chance. Writer C.E. Murphy is known for writing several supernatural-themed novels with strong female protagonists. Maybe that's where the shared universe idea comes from. Any of my followers out there able to offer any insight on that? Anyway, I don't know if Murphy has any other comics writing credits under her belt, but she did a very nice job on this story, especially if it is her first for the medium.

On the art side, Ardian Syaf is a name familiar to me from some more recent DC titles. He draws the main character as attractive and athletic without going overboard to the hyper-sexualized imagery some heroine books are known for. As always, I'm more of a story-person, but the art in this title services the story nicely. My one quibble was going to be the cover to the second issue, which depicts Chance taking someone down with a powerful kick, but doing it while wearing a short skirt. Chance's costume does not feature a skirt, and I hate when artists get major details like that wrong on a cover image. But when I read the issue, guess what? Chance does indeed have to engage some criminals while wearing a skirt. Frankie was out dancing with friends when they run into trouble. When she goes to change into her costume, she has only brought the top and mask portion of her Chance outfit to avoid having to conceal the full costume.

All in all, this was a great series I'm glad I tried and am happy to recommend to others. As a bonus, house ads in the back of each issue brought some other Dabel Brothers books to my attention that I want to check out. So not only did I get a great read from this story, but a trail to some other possible reads as well. Can't beat that kind of outcome when trying a new title!