Welcome to the latest installment of Preview Reviews. We know it has been a while but new series tend to slow down in the winter months. Hopefully you will be seeing this column more frequently. This is where we give advanced glimpses at some of the comics that will be coming out this Wednesday.
A reminder for you. Here at PopCultureSquad, we are decidedly Anti-Spoiler. We feel that ruining someone’s experience with something for the sake of getting a scoop or clicks is the wrong thing to do. Therefore, we have decided to publish this column, as necessary, with mostly spoiler-free reviews of upcoming issues. Hopefully, the information that we share with you will increase your excitement for these books.
This week’s preview comic is Assassin Nation from Kyle Starks and Erica Henderson, published by Image Comics.
ASSASSIN NATION #1
Image Comics
Written by Kyle Starks
Art by Erica Henderson
Letters by Deron Bennett
Cover Art by Henderson
Official Solicitation:
SERIES PREMIERE! Hot off her breakout success at Marvel, two-time Eisner award winner ERICA HENDERSON (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Jughead) teams up with KYLE STARKS (writer of sales beast Rick and Morty) for a hilarious twist on the hitman trope that will have readers laughing in the aisles over ASSASSIN NATION.
The World’s Former Greatest Hitman hires the 20 best assassins in the world to be his bodyguards. These mean-as-hell hired guns and murderers must work together to keep the new crime boss safe while attempting to solve the mystery of who’s trying to off him.
With the same laugh-until-you-cry spirit of action-comedies like Hot Fuzz, Tropic Thunder, and Deadpool, ASSASSIN NATION is the bombastic, side-splitting murder-fest you’ve been waiting for.
PCS Review:
Graphic violence and raunchy language litter this comic, but it is very funny. It is also clever and has a heart that it doesn’t want to show you, but it is beating there under the ridiculous macho macho punch lines and spilled brains. The premise that is detailed in the solicit holds true for this first issue but Starks and Henderson are crafting something deeper here.
The art by Erica Henderson is cartoony with fantastically expressive facial acting. There is minimal background details which keeps the focus on the characters’ actions and their reactions to the events of the story.
The characters that are introduced and survive are certainly interesting. There is a lot of room for this story to go in multiple directions assuming the interesting characters don’t die. It is called Assassin Nation after all.
We really liked this issue. It is inviting and smart in a shoot your brains out kind of way. We will definately be back for issue two!!!
