Paranoid Gardens #5
(W) Gerard Way, Shaun Simon (A/CA) Chris Weston
In Shops: Nov 20, 2024
SRP: $4.99
As Loo’s traumatic past is finally revealed, all hell breaks loose as the Gardens continue to crumble, patients die, and a bizarre hostile amusement park cult begin to take over.
Paranoid Gardens #4
(W) Gerard Way, Shaun Simon (A/CA) Chris Weston
In Shops: Oct 23, 2024
SRP: $4.99
Loo breaks protocols during her probation at the Gardens as many of the residents begin to fall ill including the building itself. While her healing powers seem to help patch up things for now it may not be enough to stop the forces outside the Gardens looking to destroy.
Paranoid Gardens #3
(W) Gerard Way, Shaun Simon (A/CA) Chris Weston
In Shops: Sep 18, 2024
SRP: $4.99
Loo and the care center staff are troubled when they discover the living gardens they reside on is dying. As she desperately hunts for a cure a mysterious spy employed by a bizarre amusement park gets in her way to keep the gardens from healing.
Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.
These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.
Logan
Jenny Sparks #1 (DC/DC Black Label) – The Spirit of the 20th Century returns with a whimper, not a bang in Tom King and Jeff Spokes‘ Jenny Sparks #1. The comic which focuses on Jenny Sparks’ unexpected return to take out a deranged Dr. Manhattan, er, Captain Atom when the Justice League can’t is just (censored) swearing and edgelord posturing. Sparks did have an origin miniseries in 2000, but she’s really no fun without the Authority to riff on which is lampshaded in some of Captain Atom’s taunting dialogue. King and Spokes go full Pulp Fiction 90s and tell a non-linear story from different viewpoints that ends up colliding at a bar, but they end up feeling like distractions from Sparks’ return and Atom’s rampage. Jeff Spokes’ art has some creativity to it, especially when Captain Atom uses his powers, but you’re better off dusting off your old Ellis/Hitch (Or even Millar/Quitely) trades or watching Justice League Unlimited Season 2, Episode 9 than reading this new take on Jenny Sparks and Nathaniel Adam. Overall: 5.8 Verdict: Pass
Paranoid Gardens #2 (Dark Horse) -Little bit of a second issue slump for Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, Chris Weston, and Dave Stewart‘s Paranoid Gardens, but we find out a little bit more about the suspicious monkey mask guys and the nefarious Dr. Zerc. But the best part for me is Lou just trying to maneuver through life working at the weirdest care home in the universe, figuring out her potentially gifts, and her connection to the superhero admitted in the last issue. Weston’s art continues to be a deadpan delight, especially a series of multiple panels where the guy who was shooting heat vision last issue is drooling because he’s so doped up. Paranoid Gardens still revels in its uniqueness, and I’m interested to see the answers to some of these mysteries, including Lou’s past. Overall: 7.6 Verdict: Read
Ultimate Spider-Man #8 (Marvel) – Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, and Matthew Wilson‘s reimagining of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man continues to be one of my favorite comics of 2024. It juggles poignant character moments with long form plotting. For example, J. Jonah Jameson gets moments both silly (Arguing about sandwiches at a bakery that he thinks is a deli.) and sincere (Having a heart to heart with Peter’s son, Richard.) with Hickman giving him depth although he’s the books sixth or seventh lead. There are unbroken moments of Peter with his family and friends that balance out the high tech superheroics and cloak and dagger work as a Tony Stark guest appearance connects Peter and Harry Osborn to the larger world of the Ultimate Universe. And last, but not least, the Sinister Six are actually scary again! Overall: 8.4 Verdict: Buy
Paranoid Gardens #2
(W) Gerard Way, Shaun Simon (A/CA) Chris Weston
In Shops: Aug 21, 2024
SRP: $4.99
Writers Gerard Way (The Umbrella Academy) and Shaun Simon (The Fabulous Killjoys), join forces with Illustrator Chris Weston (The Filth), colorist Dave Stewart (Hellboy), and letterer Nate Piekos (Black Hammer) to present an all-new surreal comic book experience that’s ER meets Doctor Who on acid. As Loo continues to be plagued by mysterious dark visions, she pushes forward to tend to the care center patients while discovering some of the more murky plans behind other staff members.
Paranoid Gardens #1 is a wild and wacky comic from Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, Chris Weston, and Dave Stewart. It’s Way’s first non-Umbrella Academy/Killjoys creator-owned work for Dark Horse Comics and follows an amnesiac named Loo working at a retirement home called Paradise Gardens for a man in a cartoon monkey mask named Dr. Bertram Zerc. But Paradise Gardens isn’t your run-of-the-mill retirement home. Along with your usual human senior citizens, there are old folks with insect heads as well as a heat vision wielding superhero, who gets admitted to the Gardens in this issue. Way, Simon, and Weston take their time easing you into this new world before letting the other shoe drop in the final pages, which are symmetrical with the beginning.
Like any good first issue, Paranoid Gardens #1 leaves you with more questions than answers, but an initially confusing first few pages aside, Gerard Way and Shaun Simon’s plot is easy to follow and lets you soak in the strangeness of the environment before heat vision blasts start tearing up the intake lobby. Loo’s amnesia makes her an easy audience surrogate as she and we are experiencing the world for the first time. However, Way, Simon, and Weston give her other character traits like kindness and a sense of humor, which makes her popular with the Gardens residents and her colleagues, but unfortunately not her supervisor Grace, which is every shitty boss you’ve ever had, but with an insect head. For example, she cheers up the Paradise Gardens’ residents with a silly sock puppet show to offset the ageist, unfunny, and frankly creepy ventriloquist that comes in every week. Loo is no ordinary woman and demonstrates power over life and death in two pivotal scenes in the comic, but the best scenes in the comic is when she’s freaking out about the world around her and is comforted by her co-workers. The visions, strange powers, and insect-head boss are all metaphors for trauma and fear. Also, Paradise Gardens is by a cliff, which adds to the precarity of Loo’s mental state.
Obviously, as a huge My Chemical Romance fan, Gerard Way’s involvement was what got me to initially check out Paranoid Gardens #1, but I was also excited to see him collaborate with Chris Weston, who worked on one of the most messed up comics of all time, namely, The Filth with Grant Morrison. Weston has this realistic, kind of Neal Adams/Dave Gibbons style that makes disturbing images more disturbing because it’s like the image is in the same room with you. Take the monkey mask, for example. A more cartoonish art style would evoke twisted nostalgia for old Disney films whereas Chris Weston’s style drives home the fact that the doctor at your grandmother’s retirement home is connected to some Mousketeer cult and will do anything for immortality. Stewart’s colors add to this eeriness with vivid reds, blues, and greens standing out when Loo has visions of her past and freaks out.
From his work on The Umbrella Academy, Doom Patrol, and even the Danger Days album and True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys comics, Way definitely has demonstrated a passion for the superhero genre, which is why it isn’t surprising that an unnamed superhero makes an appearance in Paranoid Gardens. However, he, Simon, and Weston just use this character as one ingredient in a surreal psychological thriller with body horror elements. (The mysterious, clammy ooze that Grace pokes and prods.) The superhero’s connection to Loo (Even triggering her to remember her actual name.) is more important than cool powers and fisticuffs, and he adds an air of danger to the Paradise Gardens. He’s the blunt force to the mad science and conspiracies of Dr. Zerc, who is just as much of an enigma as Loo.
Paranoid Gardens #1 is an engaging introduction to a weird new world crafted by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, and Chris Weston. They ground the narrative in a young woman’s literal struggle with identity and trying to do well at a new job before making it soar with the aforementioned flights of fancy like visions, insectoid people, and doctors that put on monkey masks and maybe were part monkey in the past. This psychological mystery aspect plus having a likable protagonist in Loo definitely has me locked in for the rest of the series.
Story: Gerard Way, Shaun Simon Art: Chris Weston
Colors: Dave Stewart Letters: Nate Piekos
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.6 Overall: 8.3 Verdict: Buy
Dark Horse Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.
Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Kindle
Paranoid Gardens #1
(W) Gerard Way, Shaun Simon (A/CA) Chris Weston
In Shops: Jul 17, 2024
SRP: $4.99
Writers Gerard Way (The Umbrella Academy) and Shaun Simon (The Fabulous Killjoys), join forces with Illustrator Chris Weston (The Filth), colorist Dave Stewart (Hellboy), and letterer Nate Piekos (Black Hammer) to present an all-new surreal comic book experience that’s ER meets Doctor Who on acid. Loo is a nurse at the most bizarre care-center in the universe. The staff are not entirely human, and the cases downright unearthly. Aliens, ghosts, superheroes, and more creatures plague its hallways as both doctors and patients and the hospital itself seems to be somewhat self-aware. Loo believes that despite a recent failure at her job she’s been given some sort of higher calling in this mysterious place, and decides to rise to the challenge. Along the way she must fight her way through corrupt staff members, powerful theme park cults, and her own personal demons and trauma to meet this challenge and discover what secrets the gardens hold.
This summer, Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, the writing team behind Tales from The Umbrella Academy: You Look Like Death and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem, are back and bringing eerie vibes to a brand-new, surreal comic series, Paranoid Gardens. This six-issue comic will be written by Way and Simon with art by Chris Weston, colors by Dave Stewart, and letters by Nate Piekos. Issue #1 will feature a die-cut cover with art by Weston and a variant cover by renowned illustrator Motohiro Hayakawa. Successive issue variants will feature artwork by Glenn Fabry, James Stokoe, Tradd Moore, Alice Darrow, and David Mack.
Loo is a nurse at the most bizarre care center around. The staff are not entirely human, and the cases downright unearthly. Aliens, ghosts, superheroes, and more creatures plague its hallways as both doctors and patients and the hospital itself seems to be somewhat self-aware. Loo believes that despite a recent failure at her job she’s been given some sort of higher calling in this mysterious place, and decides to rise to the challenge. Along the way, she must fight her way through corrupt staff members, powerful theme park cults, and her own personal demons and trauma to meet this challenge and discover what secrets the gardens hold.
Paranoid Gardens #1 (of 6) arrives in comic shops on July 17, 2024. It is now available to pre-order at your local comic shop for $4.99.
Z2 Comics is heading to New York Comic-Con 2021 to debut and announce future projects throughout the weekend! In partnership with American Music Supply, fans will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet some of the biggest names behind Z2’s 2021 publishing slate including a special appearance by originators of rap and rock’s crossover, Chuck D of Public Enemy and all five members of Anthrax!
First up on Friday at 1-2 pm, My Chemical Romance and Electric Century’s Mikey Way will sign advance copies of his upcoming graphic album Electric Century with co-writer Shaun Simon!
After that at 3:30 pm, fans can catch all of the day’s signers in room 1A21 for the Z2 Comics panel!
This past year, Z2 Comics published graphic novel tie-ins Ice Nine Kills’ fan favorite album The Silver Scream, as well as all-new immersive experiences meant to be consumed together, with Mikey Way’s Electric Century and the 2022 release of Graham Coxon’s Superstate. We invite you to an exclusive discussion around how these and other artists are redefining art and music in tandem with an entirely new format and experience. Join Z2’s Jeremy Atkins in discussion with Mikey Way and Shaun Simon, Ice Nine Kills frontman Spencer Charnas, Esoteric of CZARFACE for this once in a lifetime panel bringing together the biggest names in hip hop, rock and beyond!
Following the panel, catch Ice Nine Kills’ Spencer Charnas back at the Z2 booth from 5-6 pm, followed immediately afterward by Seamus “Esoteric” Ryan of CZARFACE and superstar comic book artist David Mack, signing an exclusive print to be revealed ahead of the show!
Full day’s schedule is below:
1-2 pm: Mikey Way and Shaun Simon (Electric Century)
3:30 pm: Z2 Comics Presents: The Graphic Album w/Mikey Way, Spencer Charnas and more! (Room 1A21)
5-6 pm: Spencer Charnas (Ice Nine Kills: Inked in Blood)
6-7 pm: Seamus “Esoteric” Ryan of CZARFACE, and David Mack
Saturday will continue a star-studded lineup with the addition of the one and only Chuck D of Public Enemy, and Joey Belladonna, Frank Bello, Charlie Benante, Jon Donais, and Scott Ian of heavy metal legends Anthrax!
Chuck D leads off the day from 12 -1 pm with his first-ever appearance at New York Comic Con, in celebration of the impending release of the Z2 graphic novel Apocalypse 91: Revolution Never Sleeps, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the legendary album of the same name!
Seamus “Esoteric” Ryan of CZARFACE returns for his second appearance from 1-2 pm.
All five members of the Anthrax lineup contributing to the critically acclaimed Among the Living graphic novel will sign from 2-3 pm.
Following just after, Chuck D and Anthrax will take the stage together for the first time in over a decade in room 1A21 at a special panel presentation to celebrate 30 years since their landmark collaboration of “Bring the Noise!”
30 years after this landmark collaboration brought together the worlds of rock and rap music, Chuck D of Public Enemy and the entire Anthrax lineup find themselves reunited in an all-new medium, determined to make history again with the releases of their respective graphic novel debuts. Join Rolling Stone writer/editor Kory Grow, Chuck D, and all five members of Anthrax for what will surely be the can’t miss panel of the convention, with a look back at their musical collaboration, as well as insight into the creative process behind the Apocalypse 91 and Among the Living graphic novels.
At 6 pm, all five members of Anthrax and Chuck D will sign TOGETHER in the Z2 booth to close out the show!
Full schedule of events for Saturday can be found below:
12-1 pm: Chuck D of Public Enemy (Apocalypse 91: The Revolution Never Sleeps)
1-2 pm: Seamus “Esoteric” Ryan of CZARFACE
2-3 pm: Joey Belladonna, Frank Bello, Charlie Benante, Jon Donais, and Scott Ian of Anthrax
3:30 pm: Z2 Comics Presents: Bring the Noise w/Chuck D and Anthrax (Room 1A21)
6pm: Chuck D & Anthrax
Without a doubt, this will be Z2’s biggest convention to date, with announcements of NYCC exclusive items yet to come in the days before the doors open to the convention hall!
Rise Against follows up on their appearance on the comic book soundtrack to DC Comics’ Dark Nights: Death Metal with a graphic novel of their own: Nowhere Generation, to be released by Z2 Comics this October! The band teams with Shaun Simon and artists Sally Cantirino, Val Halvorson, Huseyin Ozkan, Soo Lee, and more to be announced, inspired by the band’s brand new album of the same name.
The world is a powder keg – a system that favors power, wealth, and status – and we’re well past the tipping point. Nowhere Generation: Presented by Rise Against is more than just a tale of rebellion fueled by the band’s passionate politics and artistic inspiration. This is a glimpse into the lives of the abandoned, a collection of down and out individuals coming together for a revolution; these are the stories of the ones who fight back.
Rise Against will bring the lyrical themes of their ninth studio album to comics this fall in Nowhere Generation: Presented by Rise Against, the official companion to their brand new album, available to preorder now in both a standard softcover and hardcover formats, as well as slipcase, deluxe and super deluxe editions featuring exclusive prints and and brand new vinyl colorway of the LP!
