This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site
Written by PETER MILLIGAN Art by ADAM POLLINA Colors by TAMRA BONVILLAIN Cover by ADAM POLLINA with TAMRA BONVILLAIN PLUS: An All-New BAD IDEA B-SIDE FOUR ISSUES | MONTHLY $7.99 EACH | 32 PGS. | NO ADS | ON SALE OCTOBER 6, 2021
This September, embark on a tale of love, loss, life, death and bloody revenge! Meet Monday Ryan, a pyrate with a bad reputation and a price on her head. To be a pyrate is to live a short and merry life and to live it free. It ends for most with a length of rope and a four-foot drop.
After a series of successful attacks, Monday Ryan, her husband, and her crew of bandits are targeted and pursued relentlessly by the British Royal Navy. When a violent trap leads to their capture, Monday and crew are fitted for the gallows — until the Royal Navy learns that Monday’s pregnant. Civility prevents the hanging of a pregnant woman, and Monday is spared the noose, but her crew and husband are not. Set adrift on a small raft and left to her fate on the open sea, Monday vows that the life growing inside her will be born into a world where its father’s death has been avenged. She will find and kill every last soul responsible for her husband’s death, and her baby will enter into this world free of vengeance, free of bloodshed, and free of a future drenched in violence.
MONSTER KILL SQUAD #2
Written by CHRISTOS GAGE Art by TOMAS GIORELLO Colors by DIEGO RODRIGUEZ Cover by LEWIS LAROSA with DIEGO RODRIGUEZ PLUS: An All-New BAD IDEA B-SIDE FOUR ISSUES | MONTHLY $6.99 EACH | 32 PGS. | NO ADS | ON SALE OCTOBER 6, 2021
Once upon a time, monster attacks were rare. A forest witch might murder a few hikers, a killer clown might eat a few children, or a malevolent ghost might drive a young couple insane just for the hell of it. But these events were scarce, easily covered up, and soon faded into campfire stories good for a laugh.
But no one’s laughing now. Over the past 90 days, cryptozoological attacks have increased a hundredfold, and the arcane has become everyday. Monsters of every shape and size strike at will, and the good, taxpaying folks of the US of A have had enough of this nonsense.
Enter: THE MONSTER KILL SQUAD. A Government Unit of the most dangerous motherfuckers on the planet, the deadliest folks alive are here to put a bullet in the brain of everything that walks, crawls, flies, or hides in shadows. And if it doesn’t have a brain, all the better — we’ve got a gun for that, too.
Witches and wraiths. Demons and deadites. Goblins and ghosts. There have always been monsters. Now there are monster killers, and the MKS will kill it, and kill it good.
THE LOT #4
Written by MARGUERITE BENNETT Art & Cover by RENATO GUEDES PLUS: An All-New BAD IDEA B-SIDE FOUR ISSUES | MONTHLY | IN GLORIOUS BLACK AND WHITE $5.99 EACH | 32 PGS. | ON SALE OCTOBER 6, 2021 RATED: T+ FOR ABJECT TERROR, PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR AND INVOKING DESPAIR
In the 1970s, legendary filmmaker Oliver Larsen began production on what was to be his horror masterpiece. Obsessed with authenticity, the megalomaniacal director insisted on filming a real-life occult ritual performed by actual cult members. The cast and crew, of course, gave no credence to the cultists’ beliefs, but soon were proselytised as something awoke that day on the studio lot. In the bloody aftermath, the production was permanently shut down, the footage suppressed, and the soundstage that bore witness forever shuttered.
Until today.
Aviva Copeland is the newly promoted studio head — the youngest in decades. Great things are expected of her. Maybe greater than is fair. She has the unenviable task of restoring the studio’s fading image and resurrecting its financial viability. She’s up for the challenge. Poring over the sea of red in the company ledger she finds just the thing to help her do it — a prime piece of California real estate has been sitting unused on the studio books, hemorrhaging money for decades. Why would they let a lot this valuable just rot? Aviva will soon find her answer and with it she will discover that though the lot may have been closed for a half-century, it’s far from empty…and the evil that lives within its haunted walls will soon seize its chance to kill again.
New York Times best-selling author Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, A-Force) and artist Renato Guedes (DCeased: Hope at World’s End) present a terrifying vision of horror and Hollywood in the boldly bloody Bad Idea manner!
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site
Written by PETER MILLIGAN Art by ADAM POLLINA Colors by TAMRA BONVILLAIN Cover by ADAM POLLINA with TAMRA BONVILLAIN PLUS: An All-New BAD IDEA B-SIDE FOUR ISSUES | MONTHLY $7.99 EACH | 32 PGS. | NO ADS | ON SALE SEPTEMBER 1, 2021
This September, embark on a tale of love, loss, life, death and bloody revenge! Meet Monday Ryan, a pyrate with a bad reputation and a price on her head. To be a pyrate is to live a short and merry life and to live it free. It ends for most with a length of rope and a four-foot drop.
After a series of successful attacks, Monday Ryan, her husband, and her crew of bandits are targeted and pursued relentlessly by the British Royal Navy. When a violent trap leads to their capture, Monday and crew are fitted for the gallows — until the Royal Navy learns that Monday’s pregnant. Civility prevents the hanging of a pregnant woman, and Monday is spared the noose, but her crew and husband are not. Set adrift on a small raft and left to her fate on the open sea, Monday vows that the life growing inside her will be born into a world where its father’s death has been avenged. She will find and kill every last soul responsible for her husband’s death, and her baby will enter into this world free of vengeance, free of bloodshed, and free of a future drenched in violence.
NOTE: Your order for the Final Five – ALL IN bundle will be added to your order of this issue. Example: Your order for the Final Five is 20 copies. You add 15 copies of this issue. Your initial shipment will be 35 copies.
MONSTER KILL SQUAD #1
Written by CHRISTOS GAGE Art by TOMAS GIORELLO Colors by DIEGO RODRIGUEZ Cover by TOMAS GIORELLO and LEWIS LAROSA with DIEGO RODRIGUEZ PLUS: An All-New BAD IDEA B-SIDE FOUR ISSUES | MONTHLY $6.99 EACH | 32 PGS. | NO ADS | ON SALE SEPTEMBER 1, 2021
Once upon a time, monster attacks were rare. A forest witch might murder a few hikers, a killer clown might eat a few children, or a malevolent ghost might drive a young couple insane just for the hell of it. But these events were scarce, easily covered up, and soon faded into campfire stories good for a laugh.
But no one’s laughing now. Over the past 90 days, cryptozoological attacks have increased a hundredfold, and the arcane has become everyday. Monsters of every shape and size strike at will, and the good, taxpaying folks of the US of A have had enough of this nonsense.
Enter: THE MONSTER KILL SQUAD. A Government Unit of the most dangerous motherfuckers on the planet, the deadliest folks alive are here to put a bullet in the brain of everything that walks, crawls, flies, or hides in shadows. And if it doesn’t have a brain, all the better — we’ve got a gun for that, too.
Witches and wraiths. Demons and deadites. Goblins and ghosts. There have always been monsters. Now there are monster killers, and the MKS will kill it, and kill it good.
NOTE: Your order for the Final Five – ALL IN bundle will be added to your order of this issue. Example: Your order for the Final Five is 20 copies. You add 15 copies of this issue. Your initial shipment will be 35 copies.
THE LOT #3
Written by MARGUERITE BENNETT Art & Cover by RENATO GUEDES PLUS: An All-New BAD IDEA B-SIDE FOUR ISSUES | MONTHLY | IN GLORIOUS BLACK AND WHITE $5.99 EACH | 40 PGS. | ON SALE SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 RATED: T+ FOR ABJECT TERROR, PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR AND INVOKING DESPAIR
In the 1970s, legendary filmmaker Oliver Larsen began production on what was to be his horror masterpiece. Obsessed with authenticity, the megalomaniacal director insisted on filming a real-life occult ritual performed by actual cult members. The cast and crew, of course, gave no credence to the cultists’ beliefs, but soon were proselytised as something awoke that day on the studio lot. In the bloody aftermath, the production was permanently shut down, the footage suppressed, and the soundstage that bore witness forever shuttered.
Until today.
Aviva Copeland is the newly promoted studio head — the youngest in decades. Great things are expected of her. Maybe greater than is fair. She has the unenviable task of restoring the studio’s fading image and resurrecting its financial viability. She’s up for the challenge. Poring over the sea of red in the company ledger she finds just the thing to help her do it — a prime piece of California real estate has been sitting unused on the studio books, hemorrhaging money for decades. Why would they let a lot this valuable just rot? Aviva will soon find her answer and with it she will discover that though the lot may have been closed for a half-century, it’s far from empty…and the evil that lives within its haunted walls will soon seize its chance to kill again.
New York Times best-selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, A-Force) and artist Renato Guedes (DCeased: Hope at World’s End) present a terrifying vision of horror and Hollywood in the boldly bloody Bad Idea manner!
Bad Idea has announced that The Lot #1 will be delayed one week and will be released July 14th. Due to a distribution issue, the comic won’t be released this week. The Lot is by Marguerite Bennett and Renato Guedes and is a “terrifying vision of horror and Hollywood.
In the 1970s, legendary filmmaker Oliver Larsen began production on what was to be his horror masterpiece. Obsessed with authenticity, the megalomaniacal director insisted on filming a real-life occult ritual performed by actual cult members. The cast and crew, of course, gave no credence to the cultists’ beliefs, but soon were proselytised as something awoke that day on the studio lot. In the bloody aftermath, the production was permanently shut down, the footage suppressed, and the soundstage that bore witness forever shuttered.
Until today.
Aviva Copeland is the newly promoted studio head — the youngest in decades. Great things are expected of her. Maybe greater than is fair. She has the unenviable task of restoring the studio’s fading image and resurrecting its financial viability. She’s up for the challenge. Poring over the sea of red in the company ledger she finds just the thing to help her do it — a prime piece of California real estate has been sitting unused on the studio books, hemorrhaging money for decades. Why would they let a lot this valuable just rot? Aviva will soon find her answer and with it she will discover that though the lot may have been closed for a half-century, it’s far from empty…and the evil that lives within its haunted walls will soon seize its chance to kill again.
Slay Bells #1, which was also be released along with The Lot #1, will be released as normal and be available this week July 7.
Written by MATT KINDT Art & Cover by DAVID LAPHAM PLUS: An All-New BAD IDEA B-SIDE A DOUBLE-DEALING, DOUBLE-BARRELED ONE-SHOT IN GLORIOUS BLACK AND WHITE $7.99 | 32 PGS. | NO ADS | ON SALE AUGUST 4, 2021
NOTE: Your order for the Final Five – ALL IN bundle will be added to your order of this issue. Example: Your order for the Final Five is 20 copies. You add 15 copies of this issue. Your initial shipment will be 35 copies.
Midnight in Los Angeles, and the brutal vigilante known as The Watch metes out justice, cleaning the street of lawbreaking scum. As fist meets face, The Watch’s phone rings: it’s Fred from Capitol A-1 Bank. The Watch has been hacked — actually, it’s his civilian identity — but Fred sure as shit doesn’t know who he’s talking to — he’s just calling the high-end clients to let them know their bank account’s been drained.
“Don’t worry,” Fred says. “We’re insured. It’ll be fine.”
“No it won’t,” The Watch replies.
The Watch is headed to Russia — with $8.8 billion reasons to kill every last member of the Russian hacking farm —and justice will be measured in broken bones and gallons of blood.
New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT) and legendary illustrator David Lapham (Stray Bullets) give bone-shredding vengeance a name this August as another piece is placed on the HERO TRADE board in a tale guaranteed to shock and provoke.
THE LOT #2
Written by MARGUERITE BENNETT Art & Cover by RENATO GUEDES PLUS: An All-New BAD IDEA B-SIDE FOUR ISSUES | MONTHLY | IN GLORIOUS BLACK AND WHITE $5.99 EACH | 40 PGS. | ON SALE AUGUST 4, 2021 RATED: T+ FOR ABJECT TERROR, PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR AND INVOKING DESPAIR
In the 1970s, legendary filmmaker Oliver Larsen began production on what was to be his horror masterpiece. Obsessed with authenticity, the megalomaniacal director insisted on filming a real-life occult ritual performed by actual cult members. The cast and crew, of course, gave no credence to the cultists’ beliefs, but soon were proselytised as something awoke that day on the studio lot. In the bloody aftermath, the production was permanently shut down, the footage suppressed, and the soundstage that bore witness forever shuttered.
Until today.
Aviva Copeland is the newly promoted studio head — the youngest in decades. Great things are expected of her. Maybe greater than is fair. She has the unenviable task of restoring the studio’s fading image and resurrecting its financial viability. She’s up for the challenge. Poring over the sea of red in the company ledger she finds just the thing to help her do it — a prime piece of California real estate has been sitting unused on the studio books, hemorrhaging money for decades. Why would they let a lot this valuable just rot? Aviva will soon find her answer and with it she will discover that though the lot may have been closed for a half-century, it’s far from empty…and the evil that lives within its haunted walls will soon seize its chance to kill again.
New York Times best-selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, A-Force) and artist Renato Guedes (DCeased: Hope at World’s End) present a terrifying vision of horror and Hollywood in the boldly bloody Bad Idea manner!
TANKERS #3
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI Art by JUAN JOSÉ RYP Colors by ANDREW DALHOUSE Cover by LEWIS LaROSA with LAURA MARTIN PLUS: An All-New BAD IDEA B-SIDE THREE ISSUES | BI-MONTHLY $5.99 EACH | 40 PGS. | RATED: T+ | ON SALE AUGUST 4, 2021
The CEO of global energy conglomerate Greenleaf Oil has just discovered a terrifying secret: the planet only has a decade or less of petroleum left before it’s gone forever. But he has a plan to make sure his great-great grandchildren can continue to generate maximum shareholder value – and secure his own legacy in the process. Rather than develop a game-changing renewable energy source through the power of corporate innovation, Greenleaf has perfected the next best thing – time travel (duh) – so that a team of six field-rat contractors armed to the teeth in individually customized mech suits can go back to the Cretaceous Period, tweak the trajectory of the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, and give mankind another 500 millennia worth of oil reserves. What could go wrong? Only all of human history, of course – because when Greenleaf’s team of Tankers come home, they’ll discover that not only did the dinosaurs never die out, they’ve kept evolving for another 60 million years…and they’re more pissed off than ever.
Bone-shredding destruction! Wanton corporate malfeasance! Reckless use of industrial machinery! And lots and lots of ammunition. Like a Saturday morning cartoon that’s run irresponsibly over-budget, New York Times best-selling writer Robert Venditti (Justice League), blockbuster artist Juan Jose Ryp (Wolverine), and colorist extraordinaire Andrew Dalhouse (The Multiversity Guidebook) are here to take all of our insecurities about mankind’s most self-destructive impulses and turn them up until the knob snaps off with the second of THREE MEGA-SIZED ISSUES SHIPPING BIMONTHLY (that means every other month, don’t look it up).
With their launch in March 2021 with ENIAC #1, Bad Idea is loading comic shops up with promotional material to get comic readers excited.
The Bad Idea Crass Promotional Module v1 gives a preview of the various series coming our way. It features 16 pages of preview content of titles including:
ENIAC #1 by writer Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT) & artist Doug Braithwaite (Justice)
TANKERS #1 by Robert Venditti (Justice League) & Juan Jose Ryp (Wolverine)
WHALESVILLE #1 by Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT) & Adam Pollina (X-Force)
THE LOT #1 by Marguerite Bennett (Animosity) & Renato Guedes (DCeased)
SLAY BELLS #1 by Zeb Wells (Hellions) & David Lafuente (Ultimate Spider-Man)
Plus: This bad boy also has A BUNCH OF SUPER-SECRET SURPRISES that you shouldn’t take pictures and tweet, SO DEFINITELY DON’T DO THAT!!!
Stores aren’t just a shop, they’re an art gallery — and it’s about damn time that someone treated it as such. That’s why Bad Idea is sending stores a museum-worthy framed poster. Yes, framed. And not just in one of those stylish, modern-thin black frames that looks good everywhere, but in a garish, lavishly adorned, 16×20 overly ornate gold frame that is impossible to miss. (Retailers: check your emailed instructions for the minimum required time it needs to be displayed, per “the rules.”) But don’t worry, Bad Idea will be sending a new 16×20 promo poster to pop in there every month, and they’ll be rounding out the minimum display time with one hell of a poster surprise, too!
This display stands approximately 16 inches high and handles two (count ’em!) rows of up to 25 comics apiece. That’s double-sided header cards promoting Bad Idea’s upcoming March 3, 2021 launch date and ENIAC #1, too, for once you’ve got those puppies in hand. In the meantime, you can pop your Bad Idea promo books in there or whatever in there once those run out. BUT REMEMBER:This lives on your counter. It is now an immovable part of your counter. These are the sacred rules of Bad Idea, and they are inflexible and unchanging.
Bad Idea is on the way! After an interesting build-up, the comic publisher is ready to do something new, get some comics on the shelves!
Beginning in March 2021, comic fans will be getting at least one brand-new Bad Idea release per month in a variety of tastes-good, feels-great formats by a fleet of world-class creators, including writers Matt Kindt, Robert Venditti, Marguerite Bennett, and Zeb Wells, artists Doug Braithwaite, Juan Jose Ryp, Adam Pollina, Renato Guedes, and Adam Pollina, and even more yet to come (like Mae Catt, Joshua Dysart, Tomas Giorello, Eric Heisserer, David Lapham, Lewis LaRosa, Jeff Lemire, Peter Milligan, and more).
Bad Idea is taking a new spin on comic distribution. Comic books will be sold exclusively in participating comic book stores. No digital releases. No trade paperbacks or hardcovers. And no variant covers, either. Just super-high quality comics that will always leave you wanting more – because they’ll never publish more than two in a given month.
The publisher’s goal is for every single issue to look and feel special with prestige-format package, deluxe matte laminate covers, and heavy-duty interior paper stock. There’ll also be extra-long page counts, guest appearances from artists, and standalone bonus stories in every issue at no extra cost. That means more The Hero Trade from Matt Kindt and David Lapham and… the bird of a shared universe!?
All of that for just $3.99 per issue.
You’ll have to visit a Bad Idea “destination store” – one of the 100 and counting comic shops around the world that have signed on to join our independent network of direct-distribution retail partners – and buy them on a Wednesday (or simply pre-order them in advance by phone or email and pick them up whenever you’re damn well ready).
What will we see next year? Lets find out!
ENIAC #1 (of 4)
MATT KINDT (writer) DOUG BRAITHWAITE (art) DIEGO RODRIGUEZ (colors) LEWIS LAROSA with LAURA MARTIN (covers)
Seventy-seven years ago, the United States unlocked the key to defeating the Axis powers, but, in their desperation to end the war, created a far more powerful threat: ENIAC (Electronic Numerator Integrator and Computer), the world’s first supercomputer. ENIAC’s calculations proved vital to turning the tide against Germany and Japan – until it ordered the second atomic bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki without any human order or approval. America had inadvertently created the first artificial intelligence without ever realizing the full extent of its abilities…or its ambitions. For the more than 50 years that followed, ENIAC manipulated global affairs from the shadows, waging a cold war that pitted spy against spy, nation against nation…until it went dark and disappeared from view. Now, years later, an encrypted countdown has just been detected in Earth’s satellite network and mankind only has three days left before ENIAC executes its endgame. With few options and even less time, the Secretary of Defense has just given two covert operatives the most important mission in human history: kill ENIAC…before it kills us.
From the minds of New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT), incendiary artist Doug Braithwaite (Justice), and colorist Diego Rodriguez (X-O Manowar), Bad Idea’s long-awaited debut starts here with a science-fiction thrill ride that will send shockwaves for decades to come.
FOUR ISSUES // MONTHLY // BEGINNING MARCH 2021
TANKERS #1 (of 3)
ROBERT VENDITTI (writer) JUAN JOSE RYP (art/covers) JORDIE BELLAIRE (colors)
The CEO of global energy conglomerate Greenleaf Oil has just discovered a terrifying secret: the planet only has a decade or less of petroleum left before it’s gone forever. But he has a plan to make sure his great-great grandchildren can continue to generate maximum shareholder value – and secure his own legacy in the process. Rather than develop a game-changing renewable energy source through the power of corporate innovation, Greenleaf has perfected the next best thing – time travel (duh) – so that a team of six field-rat contractors armed to the teeth in individually customized mech suits can go back to the Cretaceous Period, tweak the trajectory of the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, and give mankind another 500 millennia worth of oil reserves. What could go wrong? Only all of human history, of course – because when Greenleaf’s team of Tankers come home, they’ll discover that not only did the dinosaurs never die out, they’ve kept evolving for another 60 million years…and they’re more pissed off than ever.
Bone-shredding destruction! Wanton corporate malfeasance! Reckless use of industrial machinery! And lots and lots of ammunition. Like a Saturday morning cartoon that’s run irresponsibly overbudget, New York Times bestselling writer Robert Venditti (Justice League), blockbuster artist Juan Jose Ryp (Wolverine), and Eisner Award-winning colorist Jordie Bellaire (Pretty Deadly) are here to take all of our insecurities about mankind’s most self-destructive impulses and turn them up until the knob snaps off with THREE DOUBLE-SIZED ISSUES shipping BIMONTHLY (that means every other month, don’t look it up).
THREE ISSUES // DOUBLE-SIZED // BI-MONTHLY // BEGINNING APRIL 2021
WHALESVILLE #1
MATT KINDT (writer) ADAM POLLINA (artist/cover) MATT HOLLINGSWORTH (colors)
You never thought you’d see a Bad Idea like this! From the limitless imaginations of New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT), veteran artist Adam Pollina (X-Force), and Eisner Award-winning colorist Matt Hollingsworth (Hawkeye) comes a very special whale tale for all ages (and species) in the tradition of Hayao Miyazaki and Pixar!
When young Wawae – the seaborn son of a whaling captain – is thrown overboard and swallowed whole by a whale, he knows his father will relentlessly pursue revenge against the creature that stole away his boy. What he didn’t expect, however, is what he’s about to find inside: the town of “Whalesville” – a colorful, cobbled-together village inhabited by an astounding collection of talking sea creatures, including a crab named Caleb, an angler fish called Angela, and a seadragon that prefers to go by Lilly. But, to Wawae’s new friends, Whalesville isn’t just their home, it’s the whole world – and they don’t understand the danger that now pursues them from above the waves or that they are even inside a whale at all. To rescue his new best buddies, Wawae will have to convince them of the truth…and save Whalesville before his own father sends them sinking into the inky depths forever.
In 1970, legendary filmmaker Oliver Larsen began production on his latest horror masterpiece on the lot of Los Angeles’ famed Cloverleaf Studios. Obsessed with bringing authenticity to the genre, the director insisted on casting real-life occultists to perform a genuine Satanic ritual live on camera – until something went horribly wrong. In the bloody aftermath, the production was shut down, the footage was confiscated, and the soundstage was forever shuttered.
Until today.
On the heels of a promotion that’s just made her the youngest studio chief in decades, Aviva Copeland is planning to overhaul Cloverleaf’s fading image for the 21st century – starting with the prime piece of California real estate that’s gone unused for 50 years: the very same lost soundstage where Larsen filmed his doomed masterpiece. But, as Aviva will soon discover, this corner of the lot may have been closed for a half-century, but it’s far from empty…and the evil that lives within its haunted walls will soon seize its chance to kill again.
New York Times best-selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, A-Force) and artist Renato Guedes (DCeased: Hope at World’s End) present a terrifying vision of horror and Hollywood in the boldly bloody Bad Idea manner!
FOUR ISSUES // MONTHLY // ON SALE JULY 2021
SLAY BELLS #1
ZEB WELLS (writer) DAVID LAFUENTE (artist/cover) ULISES ARREOLA (colors)
You’ve heard of black comedies? Well, this is the first one that’s not just black, but red and green and covered in reams of extremely flammable tinsel that’s already been banned in Canada!
Every Christmas Eve, little Bobby Hamilton and his father rise at dawn for an early morning hunting trip. It was their favorite tradition – until they accidentally killed a certain red-nosed reindeer. They should have known better. They shouldn’t have tried to cover it up. Because Santa Claus knows that they’ve been naughty – and, now like so many fragile Christmas ornaments violently shaken free, the yuletide peace of a quaint Midwestern farming hamlet will forever be shattered as Old Saint Nick comes to town to reap the sweetest gift of all: vengeance.
This July, Emmy Award winner Zeb Wells (Hellions, Robot Chicken), mischief-making artistic all-star David Lafuente (Ultimate Spider-Man), and colorist Ulises Arreola (Action Comics) are ready to ruin Christmas a solid six months in advance with the only thing we really wanted this year, anyway: another king-sized Bad Idea one-shot that will soon go down in infamy!
DCeased: Hope at World’s End has been an interesting venture for DC Comics and its DC Digital First initiative. The series has been a mix of one-shot reads and interconnected issues, though the latter is rare. DCeased: Hope at World’s End #6 feels like the first release that’s the middle of a story. It’s the middle section of an arc and with that, it’s very different than what’s come before.
The issues revolves around the stand at Jotunhueim as Black Adam and his Anti-Life forces numbering in the millions attack. It’s a desperate situation and one that you just expect the worst. There’s little hope or a clear path for those hunkered down to survive.
That feeling of desperation partially comes from what writer Tom Taylor has set up so far in the previous five issues. This is a series mixed with sorrow and hope. When things look good there’s a moment where the rug is pulled out from under you. With most of the chapters so far, there’s an “oh no” moment when you get hit in the gut with how bad things are and tragedy strikes.
This being a “middle chapter” there’s a mix of things here as well. The survivors do what they can, including trying to find help. There’s a creative moment where there’s a glimpse of hope and then things begin to collapse and you expect the worst. Taylor gives us those trope-ish moments that one might expect in a last stand (someone heads off for help but will they get back in time!?) and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s expected but also gives us some moments of true emotion from the characters.
The art by Renato Guedes is pretty solid. DCeased: Hope at World’s End #6 feels like the weakest chapter so far when it comes to the art. There’s some characters that feel off to me but they’re also characters I’m generally unaware of so I don’t know if that’s how they’re supposed to look. The characters are elongated and avian like but that could be by design. Compared to other characters it’s a bit noticeable and for those unfamiliar, it might look off. There are also some moments that should be jaw-dropping that never reach that aspect. A mountain is cleaved in two and that you’d expect a splash page for the ages but what’s shown doesn’t quite deliver. It looks good but doesn’t reach the level of great. Rex Lokus‘ colors are solid as well as Saida Temofonte‘s lettering.
DCeased: Hope at World’s End #6 isn’t bad in any way. It’s a middle chapter so not a place to start and not an issue you can pick up and dive in to. It has its roller coaster of a ride moments and leaves us awaiting the next chapter to see what happens next. As part of the larger picture, it does its job well but this isn’t a chapter that really stands on its own. As part of the series its a nice chapter and for those who have been reading, you should enjoy it. For those new to the series, there’s other places to start.
Story: Tom Taylor Art: Renato Guedes Ink: Renato Guedes Color: Rex Lokus Letterer: Saida Temofonte Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
“Prelude to the Anti-Life War” by Tom Taylor, Renato Guedes, Rex Lokus, and Saida Temofonte Purchase
Kahndaq, like every other country on Earth, suffered a similar fate in the early moments the Anti-Life Equation plague. Black Adam, however, had a very different response then the heroes of the Justice League!
