Low Road West is published by BOOM! Studios. It is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Flaviano.
I LOVED Jim Henson’s The Power of the Dark Crystal that Phillip Kennedy Johnson co-wrote with Simon Spurrier. So as soon as I saw his name I was like “I have to read this”. It was a good decision.
Low Road West takes place in a not-too-distant future follow a nuclear strike against the United States. The East Coast is uninhabitable and people, now homeless and many family-less, are being sent away on buses to a “safe zone”. We are met with 4 teenagers and an adolescent boy on one of these buses when suddenly, the bus stops and the driver simply gets off and rides away on his bike without a word. Turns out there’s no gas in it. Our 5 are left to wander the middle of nowhere with only each other, total strangers.
Well, except the girl and her younger brother, they’re obviously not strangers. And what kind of apocalypse story would it be if we didn’t meet some dust-covered thugs who just want to kill and steal stuff? A boring one, that’s what. So good thing we already get some action. Plus there’s a mysterious girl we have yet to see that apparently kicks ass with her bow and arrow and all the dust gangs are afraid of her. Oh, and there’s a creepy and possibly magical house. We have a lot going on and it may sound like it’s too much but it all has formed together quite nicely in this debut issue.
In the very beginning as we are shown each character, we see a little bit about what they are doing. Drawing, writing, looking at photos, etc. Everyone is doing something different and that thing tells us a little bit about them and what they’ve been through. Probably the most interesting thing I found was that only one of them was thinking about their family. And one was drawing some crazy shit and if that isn’t foreshadowing, I don’t know what is. I can also tell that Phillip Kennedy Johnson is creating some great characters, but Amir is my favorite so far. He’s just full of sass and I love it. But it isn’t an obnoxious sass, it’s a “you did something dumb and I’m going to tell you so” kind. Like, maybe he’s a little rude about it, but he isn’t wrong so you can’t be mad.
I really love Flaviano’s art. Everything is bleak and since they’re strangers they, of course, aren’t going to be super open with each other. But you also can’t just narrate everything, especially with so many characters. Which is where this amazing art detail comes in. Expressions, body language, the way characters move and react, these are all incredibly important in any comic but are especially important when so much needs to be conveyed in just the artwork.
OVERALL SCORE: 8.5 / 10
As well as everything is tied together, I do wish we had a little more explanation for things started going poof. Still, I feel this is going to be a solid mini series and I’m already anticipating issue #2. So make sure you pick up Low Road West #1 from your local comic shop!
Happy reading!
