Since the first car hit the road, human beings have always been fascinated with these steel beasts. Cars in most places are the primary form of transportation. I personally didn’t learn how to drive until I joined the military because growing up in New York public transportation was everywhere. This didn’t change how I became fascinated with cars when I was a kid.

My Lolo was a Burt Reynolds fan. We must have every one of his films, even the serious ones. The one movie I became a huge fan of was Smokey & The Bandit. The movie was about a booze runner and the officer looking to stop him, but in the larger sense, it talked to the outlaw spirit that inhabited that particular decade and America in general. In the debut issue of The Oddballs, we meet a group of characters who show the world that the spirit never went away.

We are taken to the Blue Ridge Parkway, deep in the mountains of North Carolina. We meet our protagonists, RJ, Hughie and Ira, as they race along the highway on their way to meet up with some friends. This is where we flashback to RJ’s dad, Rivers Sr., who died in a car crash in the very same tunnel RJ is driving through. The stigma has never left him. He races just like his father, being the new generation of his father’s gang, The Oddballs. His latest race ends in a disagreement, one which his opponent clearly underestimated RJ. By issue’s end, we meet the rest of the gang and find out who exactly took RJ’s Dad’s Duster.

Overall, an enjoyable first issue that unfolds like a grindhouse movie but is even more fun. The story by Donnie Wayne Watson, Jr. is action-packed and well developed. The art by the creative team is beautiful. Altogether, a world I will be glad to step into for future issues.

Story: Donnie Wayne Watson Jr.
Art: Amber Lee Bellerjeau, Darrin Chavis, and Jeremy Mace
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy