It’s 1999. Ben, Murphy, Tank, and Amanda are four screwed-up kids from broken homes… but they have had each other. When Ben is murdered, Murphy and his friends set out to find who killed him. They find themselves in the cross-hairs! Dead End Kids #1 is a debut that evokes the long string of coming-of-age tales that have come before. It does it with a whodunnit spin that leaves you guessing.

Written by Frank Gogol, the coming-of-age tale is a solid entry into the genre. It doesn’t bring together the misfits as it does the kids who all have trauma in their lives. Issues at home seem to drive their friendship and it brings you into the story.

It’s easy to relate to the kids. The comic deftly introduces each character and gives you an idea of what’s affecting them. Gogol intelligently uses a mix of dialogue, visuals, and body language to really suck you in. And then the murder and mystery hit. And, there’s more than enough left out there to make you wonder who really is the murderer… if anyone is.

Nenad Cviticanin‘s art is solid and there’s solid work in making everyone unique and there’s more than enough detail to add depth that the dialogue doesn’t. Small details like a beer can or clothing adds to the story and helps explain the world we’re drawn in to.

Dead End Kids #1 is a solid introduction into a genre and evokes films like IT or Stand By Me in the characters and tone of it all. A good debut that’ll have you really wondering who would murder a child and wanting to find out more and solve this mystery.

Story: Frank Gogol Art: Nenad Cviticanin Letterer: Sean Rinehart
Story: 7.9 Art: 7.9 Overall: 7.9 Recommendation: Buy

Source Point Press provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review