REVIEW: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys #1

 The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys #1
Written by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon
Illustrated by Becky Cloonan
Colored by Dan Jackson
Lettered by Nate Piekos of Blambot
Covers by Becky Cloonan, Gabriel Ba and Gerard Way
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 12, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Dark Horse has just released The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys #1. This bizarrely fashioned post-apocalyptic superhero story is written by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon with art from Becky Cloonan. Check out my thoughts below:

Here’s what we know: The superhero team known as The Killjoys fought against Better Living Industries — an evil mega-corporation shedding individuality from the citizens of Battery City. The Killjoys also protected a young girl whom they believed to be a messiah of sorts; however, The Killjoys were all killed and only the girl survived. Now, twelve years later, the Killjoys’ followers, The Ultra V’s — a group of reckless, careless punk teenagers — are in the midst of continuing the fight against the B.L.I. and anyone else who might get in their way. The nameless girl wanders the streets with her cat and a radio, avoiding danger at all costs. When she meets up with The Ultra V’s, she quickly learns that the term “superhero” does not have quite the same meaning as it used to and that the B.L.I. are on her trail.

I was intrigued just from reading the premise of the story before actually digging into the first issue of The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. Upon actually opening up the comic and trudging my way through, I quickly began to realize how disjointed Way and Simon’s tale proved to be. There wasn’t nearly enough information throughout the comic for me to even understand who half of the characters were. Truthfully, the only reasons I was able to follow along at all were due to the introduction paragraph presented before the main story and the “narration” offered over the protagonist’s radio by a rhyming, radio personality (which was hard enough to follow in itself).

Cloonan’s cartoon style of drawing was really entertaining. It reminded me of a cross between Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim and Lars Brown’s Northworld. The problem, however, was that the style didn’t seem to mesh well with the ominous tone of the writing.

The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys #1 did not live up to what I had hoped for. I understand that the first issue of any series can be a difficult sell and sometimes a comic will warrant a second try; but there were just not enough positives for me to continue on with this comic, which was less fabulous and more killjoy.

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