4 Kids Walk into a Bank #1 is a painfully funny return to the awkwardness of middle school wrapped around a crime mystery story that is just beginning to heat up. It’s like if you dropped the cast of Freaks and Geeks sans stoners into the middle of Reservoir Dogs.
Clandestino #2 continues to show how Amancay Nahuelpan is a genuine comics auteur as he provides the plot, world, and just enough narration to show what makes Clandestino tick as person to go with the explosive visuals, colors, and letters. If you’re a fan of the action genre or just a human being with a pulse, who isn’t squeamish about ultraviolence, this comic should definitely be on your pull list.
X’ed starts off with a very intriguing premise that dives right into the action without any sort of hesitation. There is plenty of mystery abound as not much is revealed about the team that organizes these journeys into people’s minds except for Colin. Colin, with his formal vested avatar aided by a crossbow once in Evelyn’s mind, appears to have gone through some potential hardships in past jobs that is surely to be of topic as the series progresses. There is enough intrigue, mystery, and flying hourglasses in this first issue of X’ed that breathes lots of room for potential to be explored in terms of characters and world building. Whatever is in store for this new sure hit from Black Mask Studios, Patrick, Hayrula, Garbak and Campbell have only just begun.
We Can Never Go Home #5 has several dramatic reversals and gut punching action sequences, but writers Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon never neglect the extremely different character arcs of Madison Munroe and Duncan Schmidt. In the words of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one is a rebel and the other is an idiot, and readers find out the definitive answer in this issue. Artists Josh Hood and Brian Level continue to excel at drawing angry 80s teens while using clever layout choices to make the action packed scenes more impactful and intimate. Colorist Tyler Boss punctuates his grainy, 80s VHS color palette with flashes of red for the gallons of blood spilled in this issue and white when Madison manifests her powers to make these panels stand out. We Can Never Go Home #5 has a riveting plot line, visceral art, and also shows the toxicity of the teenage male antihero while laying the foundation for a new kind of post punk rebel heroine (It is fitting that Siouxsie and the Banshees is on We Can Never Go Home’s official Spotify playlist.)
In short, Young Terrorists #1 is a must read for a mature audience. There are things that go on our world that most of us turn a blind eye to each and every day – a case of “If I don’t see it, it does not happen.” Sometimes we need to be reminded that our Western world is not the happy, clean and disinfected, freedom and equality for all place we may think it is. Sometimes, we need a writer, an artist, who will shove the real world in our faces and make us acknowledge it so that maybe, ultimately, we can change it. Kudos to Matt Pizzolo and Amancay Nahuelpan for having the testicular fortitude to produce a title like Young Terrorists.
We Can Never Go Home #4 has a vibrant purple and black color palette from Tyler Boss and explores the joy and pain of teenage emotions in an authentic way through Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon’s occasionally brutal and occasionally witty dialogue. The story is held together by Josh Hood’s artwork as he can switch from a last conversation between a father and daughter surrounded by black bars to a teenager having his first real sexual experience in more open space to the chases and fights part of the series’ overarching plot
We Can Never Go Home #4 may tread some familiar superhero and conspiracy beats, but the creative team of Rosenberg, Kindlon, and Boss make them seem fresh through unique panel layouts, different-from-the norm coloring, and nuanced characterization.
Transference #1 is a great example of executing a premise through sleek visuals and a confident, tight script that is light on heavy information. There are too many titles out there that choose to throw a large amount of information early on and can really learn a thing or two by gradually forming a world over time while simultaneously thrusting the reader into the driver seat. If Transference is the first Black Mask Studios title to reach your eyes, the time is now to expand your horizons.