Random blood stains. Coughed-up insects. Dirt-caked kisses. All things Moe and Alister are plagued with—and all reminiscent of what they did to that girl at summer camp years ago. Have they been cursed? They confront their ringleader from back then, Conley, now a tech star, to see if she has also been bedeviled. But she dismisses them, claiming not to recall much of that summer. Is she telling the truth, or still a master of deception?
(W) Alex Segura, Michael Moreci, Chantelle Aimée Osman (A) Craig Cermak, Brent Schoonover, Emiliana Pinna (C) Mark Englert, Warnia Sahadewa (L) Jim Campbell, Jodie Troutman
THE GHOULS AND GHOSTS ARE OUT IN THE CITY – and so are some of Dick Tracy’s deadliest Rogues…or are they? As Tracy, Pat, Sam, and Tess try to piece together the return of one of The City’s most bloodthirsty killers, other Tracy baddies start to creep out from under the woodwork. But the heroes dig deeper into the twisty mystery and discover something new – and perhaps more sinister! Featuring the Mad Cave debut of one of the most iconic Dick Tracy characters ever – THE KID!
When blood began to run down Dara Lund’s legs at Nature Camp, she thought she was dying. Homeschooled by a protective dad after her mom’s mysterious death, Dara wasn’t told the facts of life. “It’s the Curse,” her bunkmates said, not revealing it was her period. “But we can lift it…if you do everything we say.” So began their week of torment, making naive Dara do torturous tasks for their amusement. But now, 10 years later, as they embark on their careers, the three tormentors find themselves cursed—so they reunite to track down the likely source: a vengeful Dara. And they’ll pursue her to the bloody end. Flow #1 spins horror out of childhood bullying.
Written by Paula Sevenbergen, Flow #1 is an interesting comic. While it focuses on an experience of women, the underlying concept is universal. Much like Carrie, Flow is a story about trauma, gender oppression, and vengeance over the humiliation experienced as a kid. While I am a guy and haven’t experienced this, I have been teased and made fun of for other bodily issues. Kids can be cruel and being bullied is a universal experience that knows no bounds. It makes the comic relatable no matter your age or gender.
Sevenbergen bounces back and forth between the past and present, introducing us to Dara and taking us through the trauma of her time at camp. We see the abuse directed at her not just due to her first period, but also her mother and her mother’s death. It also comes together to paint a picture of a child who had a traumatic upbringing in multiple ways and also tie into the experiences of her tormentors as adults.
In the present, strange occurrences are happening to Dara’s camp tormentors that tease they have something to do with Dara. Going into the comic, I wondered how these individuals would know it has something to do with her, but each experience perfectly ties back to camp and the torture they inflicted on the young girl. But, it’s also clear there’s more to these individuals’ current lives and they each have their own issues they’re going through beyond the strange happenings. It’s an interesting comic teasing the abusers are also abused as well and we’ll see if that’s explored more.
The art by Claudia Balboni is pretty solid with the characters showing some nice emotion and there being a tinge of horror in the every day life. The few instances of real strange experiences is so extreme, it shows a nice visual build towards the moment that really emphasizes the “scare.” The color by Fabi Marques and lettering by Jodie Troutman all combine to create a comic that feels like a slice of life comic but there’s a bit of unease about it all as well. The rather benign day to day leads to scares and a building of tension.
Flow #1 is an intriguing comic. It starts as a solid horror tale that feels like it is inspired by the classic Carrie. And, in today’s environment, it also feels like it has a lot of potential to entertain and scare while also having something to say underneath it all. It’s start is a solid example that horror can be about the scares as well as something deeper.
When blood began to run down Dara Lund’s legs at Nature Camp, she thought she was dying. Homeschooled by a protective dad after her mom’s mysterious death, Dara wasn’t told the facts of life. “It’s the Curse,” her bunkmates said, not revealing it was her period. “But we can lift it…if you do everything we say.” So began their week of torment, making naive Dara do torturous tasks for their amusement. But now, 10 years later, as they embark on their careers, the three tormentors find themselves cursed—so they reunite to track down the likely source: a vengeful Dara. And they’ll pursue her to the bloody end.
Story: Paula Cheshire Art: Paula Cheshire Letterer: Jodie Troutman Translator: Nannette McGuinness
When someone dies, there’s a void–a loss. No matter what. There’s a whirlwind of feelings and confusion. We don’t know what happens to the dead after death, but we do know what happens to the living. Paula beautifully narrates the loss of her mother and how she copes with the sudden loss in this charming and moving graphic novel.
After plodding through uneventful mission after uneventful mission, Christine Chapel is itching for a real adventure. So, when an opportunity to reunite with her old scientist friend Jinare for research on the planet Poilant crops up, Chapel is excited to finally do what Starfleet does best: explore strange new worlds. However, when the Enterprise arrives in Poilant’s space, the crew cannot get into contact with Jinare or any of her researchers. Chapel, Una, Spock, La’An, and Scotty beam down, and they are greeted by…nothing…no one…and no signs of what caused their disappearance, only a robot named D6 who urges them to descend into the planet’s depths in search of his friends. But there’s more than scientists lurking in the watery abyss. Ancient life-forms and behemoths await—and they might mean more adventure than even Chapel can handle. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Salvation #1 is a solid start that’s welcoming to Star Trek fans as well as new readers.
While I’ve seen all of the Star Trek films and watched a lot of the television shows, I’m not a Star Trek diehard. I know my basics and enjoy what I’ve seen but I haven’t watched the new shows on streaming (mostly because I don’t want to pay for yet another streaming service). So, I’ve never seen a full episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but know enough about it, that it’s a prequel to the original Star Trek series. And even that knowledge is unnecessary.
Writer Robbie Thompson delivers a debut issue in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Salvation #1 that’s easy for anyone to dive into. There’s little you need to know about the series to enjoy what is a fairly basic concept, a team arrives at a base to find it empty and only clues as to where everyone has gone. Add in a feeling of danger lurking and you have this comic. It’s straightforward but it works well.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Salvation #1 isn’t a comic lost in Star Trek lore and details. Instead, it puts its focus on the characters and the mystery providing a read that plays into the puzzle as to what happened and playing with tropes like readers guessing what’s lurking in a shadow or around the corner. It keeps things focused and simple in that way.
Travis Mercer‘s art, along with color by JP Morgan and lettering by Jodie Troutman helps things out by really playing into that slight tension of the story. The characters feel a bit antsy in the beginning which then builds into the tension as the team begins to explore their destination. The art has fun with that at times focusing visuals elsewhere as the team explores off the page, instead focusing on what lurks in the shadows. It just dives right into what can make horror work and goes with it. Add in a nice take on the actors where they’re all easily recognizable, and it all comes together for a comic that looks good and is having fun visually with the already entertaining script.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Salvation #1 is a nice start. Star Trek fans should enjoy this adventure of the crew while new readers can just enjoy a sci-fi mystery and not get caught up on it being based on an existing property. It’s the best of both worlds in that case as it explores a whole new world.
Prepare for a heartrending Star Trek comic that is unlike anything you’ve seen before. Starfleet’s fearless and doomed crew members finally get their own story as main characters… and no one is safe. Featuring an all-new cast of characters, what is the true purpose of their deadly mission and who will survive? Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 is a fantastic start taking the classic punchline of “Red Shirts” and turning them into an expendable Dirty Dozen.
If there’s some things you can count on when it comes to science fiction, it’s that Star Wars’ Stormtroopers can’t hit anything and their armor is worthless while Star Trek’s Red Shirts die by the dozen. Writer Christopher Cantwell puts the spotlight on a group of Red Shirts recruited for an undercover mission to root out a spy.
Like classic films and shows that bring together a rag-tag bunch of screw-ups, Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 introduces us to each one by one highlighting their personalities and making sure we understand what sort of conflict they’re bringing to the mission that’s sure to go off the rails. But, Cantwell does more than that and delivers winks and nods and the inside joke of how expendable Red Shirts are and how unlikely you’ll meet one over the age of 30. The comic deftly uses the joke and turns it into a badge of honor making out its band of misfits to be more badasses than the color of their shirt denotes.
The art by Megan Levens is good with each character being unique and standing out. With color by Charlie Kirchoff and lettering by Jodie Troutman and the art feels like it’s a good match for the concept that’s both serious and not. The delivery method of how the crack unit gets to the surface is packed with humor but also a hell of a lot of action that you can imagine on the big screen and delivers a smile on one’s face. Like the overall concept of the comic, the art takes itself seriously and not at the same time.
Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 feels like it’s in on the joke. It has moments that feel like it’s played totally straight and serious and others where it haves fun with its expendable concept. The combination creates some great entertainment where you’re not sure if you want the mission to get all cool, stealth, and full of action, or go completely FUBAR and watch the Red Shirts die in creative and hilarious ways. But, the first issue shows, you can actually have both.
Story: Christopher Cantwell Art: Megan Levens Color: Charlie Kirchoff Letterer: Jodie Troutman Story: 8.5 Art: 7.6 Overall: 8.4 Recommendation: Buy
IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Mad Cave Studios has announced Flow, a haunting new horror miniseries written by Paula Sevenbergen and illustrated by Claudia Balboni, with colors by Fabi Marques and letters by Jodie Troutman; featuring by haunting variant covers from Aneke and Colleen Doran.
Flow isn’t just horror—it’s a reckoning. A story of menstruation, manipulation, and long-simmering guilt, Flow isn’t just about coming of age—it’s about coming undone!
When blood began to run down Dara Lund’s legs at Nature Camp, she thought she was dying. Homeschooled by a protective dad after her mom’s mysterious death, Dara wasn’t told the facts of life. “It’s the Curse,” her bunkmates said, not revealing it was her period. “But we can lift it…if you do everything we say.” So began their week of torment, making naive Dara do torturous tasks for their amusement. But now, 10 years later, as they embark on their careers, the three tormentors find themselves cursed—so they reunite to track down the likely source: a vengeful Dara. And they’ll pursue her to the bloody end.
With a dual-timeline structure and chilling themes of body horror, Flow dares to confront what’s left unsaid, whether by shame, silence, or social taboo.
Flow #1 hits comic shops and digital platforms September 17, 2025, and is now available for preorder!
DC Pride 2025 #1 is a little different from the previous installments of DC Pride in that it’s not a collection of short stories featuring LGBTQ+ DC Comics characters, but is a single narrative centered around a gay bar that Alan Scott frequented in the 1930s and told predominantly from the POV of a new character named Ethan, who is a trans military veteran that ends up caught up a kind of multiversal/elemental saga. I applaud the scope of this comic book, which has big jam session energy as different characters end up in different pocket realities based on wishes they made at the gay bar or graffiti they scrawled. We get Apollo and Midnighter living in 1950s domestic bliss courtesy of Sam Maggs and Derek Charm, a single, psychiatric girl boss Harley Quinn from Maya Houston, Max Sarin, and Marissa Louise ; and a gorgeous sapphic romance between Jo Mullein and Nubia from Houston, Vita Ayala, and Vincent Cecil to name a few. The reading effect is like jumping from comic to comic and look at paths not trodden with some iconic queer characters and a few new or not so iconic ones.
As Tim Sheridan, Giulio Macaione, and Emilio Pilliu Alan Scott-centric frame story shows, fighting supervillains and having superpowers is a metaphor for being queer in DC Pride 2025. It might be tempting to give up and lie low, especially with the United States’ hard turn to fascism, and homophobia and transphobia promoted by folks in power, but Alan Scott, Ethan, and their companions’ actions in the comic act as a clarion call to resistance. The stuff with the Crimson Flame and Scott having his own Red Lantern is a little Geoff Johnsian for my taste, but it’s so cool to watch Alan Scott have a Sailor Moon type transformation sequence and return into action to help save the next generation of queer heroes symbolized by Ethan. I love Macaione’s use of greens to show a possible, idyllic future for Scott and a non-Red Lantern/Russian spy Johnny Ladd, but it’s a happiness based on a lie like the other possible futures in the book.
However, DC Pride 2025 isn’t all serious action and has a lot of humor and playfulness. Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Alex Moore recontextualize Golden Age Z-list Wonder Woman villain Blue Snowman coming to terms with their gender fluidity alongside nonbinary superhero Envoy in one vignette. I love how they poke fun at the restrictions of the gender binary using the classic tropes of a superhero brawl, and how even well meaning cisgender people can be just plain annoying at times. It’s so cool seeing this kind of story and voice in a mainstream, corporate comic showing that nonbinary characters don’t just have to be righteous heroes, but can be kind of messy too. DC Pride 2025 really hits the spectrum of queer identities, including asexuality with Connor Hawke getting a short story where he resists his father’s reputation as a womanizer and just wants to live his own life. I have to give a special shout out to Philip Sevy’s art in this short sequence, which seems like it’s right out of the late 1990s period where he was member of the JLA. Both the visual and character variety of DC Pride 2025 makes it an engaging read, and the book is a testament to the active work that DC Comics has done to cultivate LGBTQ+ characters in the past decade or so. (I need a monthly Midnighter and/or Apollo book though.)
After a wild and wacky cosmic adventure set in the DC Multiverse, DC Pride 2025 wraps up with a beautiful nonfiction storyfrom Jenny Blake and Sara Soler about Blake coming out as a transgender woman earlier this year. It has gorgeous soft lines and a refreshing color palette to go with Jenny Blake’s honest and humorous script about how old comics about Clark Kent switching genders had an influence on her own gender identity journey. I love how Soler inserts different DC characters into the panel to blur the line between fantasy and non-fiction with Blake’s most famous co-creation Black Lightning making an appearance as well as transgender superheroine Dreamer, who shares coffee with Blake. The story shows that you’re never too old to be your authentic self and hints at a longer graphic memoir, which I hope Jenny Blake gets to realize at DC or elsewhere.
DC Pride 2025 is an ambitious comic with summer crossover energy that tells an epic story with DC’s LGBTQ+ characters while still taking time to dig into their individual hopes, fears, and dreams. It’s a showcase of queer representation on the page and on the issue’s creative teams, and Blake and Sara Soler’s memoir is a beautiful coda and rallying cry to continue to be queer and fearless in an increasingly dark and hateful world.
Story: Vita Ayala, Jude Ellison S. Doyle, Maya Houston Story: Sam Maggs, Tim Sheridan, Josh Trujillo, Jenny Blake Art: Don Aguillo, Vincent Cecil, Derek Charm, A.L. Kaplan, Giulio Macaione Art: Emilio Pilliu, Max Sarin, Philip Sevy, Sara Soler, Alex Moore, Skyler Patridge Colors: Eren Angiolini, Jordie Bellaire, Triona Farrell, Marissa Louise Letters: Aditya Bidikar, Frank Cvetkovic, Lucas Gattoni, Ariana Maher, Morgan Martinez, Jodie Troutman Story: 8.9 Art: 9.3 Overall: 9.1 Recommendation: Buy
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Prepare for a heartrending Star Trek comic that is unlike anything you’ve seen before. Starfleet’s fearless and doomed crew members finally get their own story as main characters… and no one is safe. Featuring an all-new cast of characters, what is the true purpose of their deadly mission and who will survive? Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 is a fantastic start taking the classic punchline of “Red Shirts” and turning them into an expendable Dirty Dozen.
If there’s some things you can count on when it comes to science fiction, it’s that Star Wars’ Stormtroopers can’t hit anything and their armor is worthless while Star Trek’s Red Shirts die by the dozen. Writer Christopher Cantwell puts the spotlight on a group of Red Shirts recruited for an undercover mission to root out a spy.
Like classic films and shows that bring together a rag-tag bunch of screw-ups, Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 introduces us to each one by one highlighting their personalities and making sure we understand what sort of conflict they’re bringing to the mission that’s sure to go off the rails. But, Cantwell does more than that and delivers winks and nods and the inside joke of how expendable Red Shirts are and how unlikely you’ll meet one over the age of 30. The comic deftly uses the joke and turns it into a badge of honor making out its band of misfits to be more badasses than the color of their shirt denotes.
The art by Megan Levens is good with each character being unique and standing out. With color by Charlie Kirchoff and lettering by Jodie Troutman and the art feels like it’s a good match for the concept that’s both serious and not. The delivery method of how the crack unit gets to the surface is packed with humor but also a hell of a lot of action that you can imagine on the big screen and delivers a smile on one’s face. Like the overall concept of the comic, the art takes itself seriously and not at the same time.
Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 feels like it’s in on the joke. It has moments that feel like it’s played totally straight and serious and others where it haves fun with its expendable concept. The combination creates some great entertainment where you’re not sure if you want the mission to get all cool, stealth, and full of action, or go completely FUBAR and watch the Red Shirts die in creative and hilarious ways. But, the first issue shows, you can actually have both.
Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 is out in comic shops on July 17.
Story: Christopher Cantwell Art: Megan Levens Color: Charlie Kirchoff Letterer: Jodie Troutman Story: 8.5 Art: 7.6 Overall: 8.4 Recommendation: Buy
IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
