Review of Wasteland Comic Book by Oni Press
If you aren’t reading the Wasteland Comic Book series from Oni Press, you should be. Friends who are reading this blog will likely skip this post as they are sick of me talking about this book. I read a lot of Marvel and DC but recently, I have been branching out and trying more independent comic books. While not all of them have been great there have been so many great surprises that I am once again really excited about comics. I can’t wait to try new titles and explore new worlds. Wasteland was one of those great surprises.
Okay, enough intro blather, on to the review. At the time of posting this, Wasteland is up to 19 issues. I have only read 14 of them. Yes, I know, pretty sad for someone that just slobbered all over himself talking about how much he loves it but I am behind in all my reading. I am getting caught up but I like to read my comics in the order in which I receive them. My review will be spoiler free, I am not going to tell you specifics, just going to give you a quick overview to get you started.
The comic book is written by Anthony Johnston, penciled by Christopher Mitten and covers by Ben Templesmith. The interior art is amazing, it’s a perfect match for Johnston’s writing. Don’t bitch and moan that it’s in black and white, good art is good art and the black and white lends itself to this gritty story. The covers by Ben Templesmith are a nice bonus, they are gorgeous!
Wasteland is set in a post-apocalyptic future America that was ravaged by a yet to be explained event called the Big Wet. The main characters that the rest of the story revolves around are Abi and Michael, two very different, yet very similar individuals who find each other in the first issue. They discover that they both have special and unexplained abilities. They are on a mission to find the fabled city of A-Ree-Yass-I which is where the Big Wet was said to have originated.
As the story begins, Michael is a ruin runner, a loner that survives in the waste land. He is the strong silent type that is always in survival mode. Abi is the sheriff in a small town and does her best to take care of the people that have chosen to live there. Throughout the book we run into many different types of characters, including Sandies; creatures that live in the wastes and feed on people, the Townsfolk; normal people just trying to survive in a very difficult environment, Suneaters; a new religioun that has spread quickly through the wastes, and the City Council; corrupt religious fanatics who feel threatened by the peace loving sun eaters.
The book has a lot to offer, it’s gritty, vicious and heroic all rolled into one. The story keeps you guessing with plenty of twists and turns and clues are dropped as to where they might be in the future USA. Little has been revealed about that we should expect. So far the series has been collected into two trades and according to Johnston they are looking to keep this going as an ongoing series for at least 75 issues. Now is as good a jumping on point as any other. Support the book and I am sure you will enjoy it.