Comic Book Resources

The Pirates of Coney Island #1 - 28 pages of pure coolness

The Pirates of Coney Island came out today, and I recommend you picking it up, because this first issue, by writer Rick Spears and artist Vasilis Lolos is a full 28 pages of total coolness, and the set-up is quite good for future issues, as #1 was really good without the titular characters of the comic even showing up!!

Here's the cover I got, it's the variant by Becky Cloonan...

In this first issue, we meet our POV character, Patrick Johnson, who is a runaway who runs afoul of a girl gang.

Check it out...

Suffice to say, after this encounter, Patrick is known as "Patch."

Lolos' art reminds me of Cloonan, but also a little Paul Pope mixed in. It is very cool looking.

What I like about Spears' writing in this issue is how he manages to sell the concept to us fully. The idea of a gang of teenaged "pirates" roaming Coney Island sounds a bit silly, but Spears presents it in such a manner that you not only buy into the idea, you think it is totally reasonable.

There is also a creepy bad guy, who kills a mobster in a pretty gruesome way.

One could argue that this comic was a bit of an example of style over substance, but I think that there is a very nice level of craft that involves CREATING a style that oozes so much cool that you do not even think about the substance, because you're so dazzled by the cool.

Spears and Lolos achieve that level quite nicely in this comic.

And we haven't even met the Pirates yet.

I can't wait.