I’m always fascinated when a new comics company captures my attention, especially one that can tap such great talent as Joshua Fialkov. Bernard Chang and Marcelo Maiolo.
Jet City Comics’ new offering, King, features all three of those dynamic talents, and arrived in comics shops this past Wednesday, August 12.
Here’s the comic’s description: “King just wants what anybody wants: not to get fired, eaten, or forced to mate with a cheetah lady. As Earth’s sole human survivor after the apocalypse, life among Los Angeles’ strange, new populace ain’t easy. Working for the LA Department of Reclamation, King gets a lot of crappy jobs going on quests and searching for artifacts from the ‘old world,’ which can range from the mythical (Excalibur!) to the absurd (an iPod Shuffle). The work commute can be a real pain in the asphalt, the 405 freeway is filled with mutants, monsters, mayhem and tentacled Elder Gods. And that’s all before you hit the horrors of the San Fernando Valley. As the world’s freakish inhabitants battle for supremacy, King searches for the ‘seed of life,’ which may give Earth the second chance it probably doesn’t even deserve.”
Fialkov’s writing has been tremendous since I first came across it. In particular, I’ve enjoyed The Bunker, The Life After and Skyman. I’ve yet to be able to predict what he’s up to, and that’s a serious plus! He creates living, breathing characters that I quickly come to care about while making things happen around them. Excellent!
Bernard Chang’s Green Lantern art has been superb as well, so I was really happy to see them work together on a new title.
One more explanation: Jet City Comics is new to me, but I found out that this company is a new imprint created to public comics with Amazon Publishing. The one thing that caught my attention was their acquisition of the Hedge Knight property, a long-time favorite of mine. I expect good things from them now! Here’s the link to the closest thing to a website for them I could find!
The story is about a post-apocalyptic Earth where King is considered the last human alive by the various freaky aliens he works with and for. There’s a witty description for this comic that goes: “The last man on Earth is ten minutes late for work. If the commute doesn’t kill him, the robotic karate bears will.”
I can just imagine Mr. Fialkov chuckling at our reaction to reading that sentence. Robotic karate bears! Really?
Yes, they’re there near the end of this debut issue. The creative team does a wonderful job of mixing humor, pathos and action throughout, with King being like us in that he has to work hard just to keep up. He’s a funny guy, pretty intelligent and always in trouble, seems like. I like him already!
The aliens are entertaining as well, coming in all kinds of shapes and sizes and colors. They’ve overrun the planet, but society seems pretty similar to what humans had been up to before them. Lots of entertaining dialogue throughout, so don’t skip any word balloons!
For a debut issue, this is one of the best I’ve read recently. I’m already anxious for the second chapter to come out! Great job, all around!
To check out the cover from King #1, look below:
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