This week’s lead review for Wednesday Comics is Indigo Children #1, which asks the question — who are the Indigo Children? Plus, the Wednesday Comics Team has its usual rundown of the new #1s, finales and other notable issues from non-Big 2 publishers, all of which you can find below … enjoy!
Indigo Children #1
Story: Curt Pires and Rockwell White
Script: Curt Pires
Art: Alex Diotto
Colors: Dee Cunniffe
Letters: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Image Comics
If you grew up in the 90’s you might remember hearing about Indigo Children — those gifted children with strange empathic abilities that could bend spoons, see the future, or had off-the-charts intelligence and spiritual awareness. Yet, ten years later they seemed to vanish from daytime talk shows and public discourse. In Curt Priers and Rockwell White’s new book, we’re led down a rabbit hole of conspiracy to find out what happened to these Indigo Children and who might be hiding them.
Donovan Price, a stoic journalist, finds himself trapped in a web of political espionage when an anonymous source sends him a videotape of a boy named Alexei who claims to remember life on Mars. Things get stranger as Alexei demonstrates some otherworldly abilities. Weirder yet, there are no traces that remain of the boy or his mother.
In a sea of stories about powerful kids, Indigo Children chooses to focus on the mystery to great success. From start to finish it was an engaging read, as I found myself quickly flipping through to the next page eager to fall deeper into the story. The dialogue made each character come alive and only lent more to the mystery, while the color and the visuals enhanced the sense of urgency in each moment. From the start, I felt like I was racing to the end, even though I wanted to stop and spend more time with each moment. Cunniffe’s color in particular really set the tone and aided the smooth transitions between scenes.
The main character Donovan was the only setback for me. Next to a cast of secondary characters, whose personalities seemed clear and engaging, Donovan himself felt hard to root for as he came across flat and affectless. I suspect this is because it was the first issue and that as we unfold the mystery of the Indigo Children, so too will we learn more about Donovan Prince. My big hope is that this series will draw in its reader with clues and conspiracies of their own to theorize about as they try to untangle the mystery alongside Donovan.
Indigo Children is a great start to what promises to be a wild and immersive ride, that I can’t wait to continue.
Verdict: BUY
Wednesday Comics Reviews
- The Ambassadors #1 (Image Comics): The Ambassadors #1 by Mark Millar, Frank Quietely, Clem Robins and Vincent MG Deoghan starts this week with a strong concept. The set up is classic Millar; a scientist has cracked the code to creating actual super-powered people, and all individuals can earn those powers by altruism. Of course this comes to the attention of all manner of government agencies and black ops organizations (another classic Millar trope). It’s a clever set up that is also a sly satire on reality shows and challenges, almost a superhero Shark Tank. The art is crisp, with a futuristic feel. Frank Quietly is adept at drawing faces and expressions, which is important for moments of humor and satire. What this team is doing here reminds me of their Authority run, which I thought was fantastic. The colors are also sharp and bright. The book just feels and reads sleek. So if you are a Mark Millar fan, this is something you are definitely going to like. But even if you are not, it’s worth a shot. Millar’s books are often entertaining and when you thrown in that Quietley line work (and colors!), it’s a fun read. There is enough in this debut issues to get you going, and I definitely want to see where the story is headed. —Manny Gomez
- Blood-Stained Teeth #10 (Image Comics): Blood-Stained Teeth #10 concludes with a satisfying resolution to its discussions on class and exploitation. The creative team sticks the landing after a “villain of the week” approach to thread the narrative, with the deep understanding of class and humanity written by Christian Ward, the moody and beautifully detailed art of Patric Reynolds, with vibrant, abstract, and saturated colors by Heather Moore, and creative and expressive letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou bring the series to a beautiful and stunning end. After positioning characters for a final showdown, the conclusion through the actions and words of these characters speaks to the experience of humanity and the nature of change from the perspective of privilege and that of the proletariat, where the sun rises on the promise of resistance. —Khalid Johnson
Don’t Spit in the Wind #1 (Mad Cave Studios): Fans of Tank Girl and Mad Max, please read. Not-fans of post-apoc grunge, maybe don’t read. What writer/artist Stefano Cardoselli and colorist/letterer Dan Lee bring to Don’t Spit in the Wind #1 is pure enough propane to scorch the frayed edges of your ravaged soul, revealing a glimpse at a climate-changed future where humans left for the stars, leaving only disastrous waste to be sanitized by the lower castes of society. While not packed with character work, the visual personality packs a wallop in sheer size and scale. Reminiscent of a less-bleak Blame!, Don’t Spit in the Wind wallows in the reclamation-in-process environments of its high concept Earth every bit as big and waste-blasted as the Superfund sites legally listed by the US EPA. Dan Lee’s colors are a mix of Patricia Mulvihill style gradients and color halftone, which brings a freckled texture to Cardoselli’s stippling– most often employed as grit and rust here. If your idea of a good time starts with a bird shitting on your helmet, then maybe Don’t Spit in the Wind is for you. —Beau Q.
Dungeons & Dragons – Saturday Morning Adventures (IDW Publishing): These Saturday morning cartoon throwback comics are usually a lot of fun. This week’s Dungeons & Dragons – Saturday Morning Adventures #1, though, is even a cut above just being a lot of fun, featuring as it does a prestige creative team of David M. Booher, Sam Maggs, George Kambadais, and Ed Dukeshire. It feels like these creators — all of whom have been doing really interesting original work of late — have all signed onto this one out of love for the source material, and that shows in the book, which is a light and colorful romp. It’ll definitely appeal to fans of the TV show, as well as new fans of the classic TTRPG, a group from what I understand just keeps growing and growing and growing. —Zack Quaintance.- It’s Only Teenage Wasteland #4 (Image Comics): This is a bleak, post-apocalyptic hellscape that feels fun. The first issue started off with a compelling look into the interpersonal drama of a group of teenagers – and then throws them into this nightmare, with all the baggage to boot. Writer Curt Pires’s dialogue is realistic and true to how teenagers actually talk (rather than a ‘hello fellow kids’ situation), while still capturing the absurdity of the hell our protagonists have wound up in. The worldbuilding and character work is amazing, by both Pires and Jacoby Salcedo, the phenomenal artist for the series. His designs are iconic and incredibly detailed, and that doesn’t even get into the insanely cool panel layouts throughout the book. Paired with colorist Mark Dale and letterer Micah Myers, this is a murderers row of talent. Dale is able to depict completely different scenes with totally unique tones all on the same page – without making said page look jarring or distracting. We bounce from bright and cheery to dour without a hint of whiplash. Myers’ letters are subtle, yet pop off the page in dramatic moments (not to mention the way the sfx explodes in tense moments). This has been one of my favorite minis to check out in a while, with annoyingly satisfying cliffhangers at the end of every issue (especially this last one). I’ll definitely be buying the trade for this, and I can’t wait to watch a prestige TV show of this whole series. –Cy Beltran
- Rocketman & Rocketgirl #1 (Dynamite): The entire world is on the brink of war for the second time in a century. For a couple of swells like Cal and Doris Martin, though, the home front is almost as dangerous. Maybe because the young marrieds don cowls, colorful costumes, and prototype three-cartridge rocket packs to battle crime as Rocketman and Rocketgirl! Dynamite adds another one-shot title with public domain superhero characters this week, and readers nostalgic for the Golden Age will find it must-read material. Writer Jacob Edgar crafts a fun romp, expanding the narrative with twists that vigilantes of this era seldom faced. Masked mystery duos make good patsies, and those with exploitable super-science tech make even better ones. The action’s punctuated with comedic banter between the Martins reminiscent of Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man movie series. Along with the typical airborne and crime-busting action you’d expect, plus atypical plot complications for our heroes, we also get Jordi Perez delivering a rough-hewn and raw stylistic form. The look very much kindles memories of panels from Justice Society of America epics and other Golden Age adventures. Before Commando Cody tweaked his rocket pack controls, before the Rocketeer looked like a hood ornament, Rocketman & Rocketgirl delivered defeat from above to all manner of villainy. And thanks to this enjoyable one-shot, they’re back for an encore. –Clyde Hall
- Star Trek – Strange New Worlds – The Illyrian Enigma #4 (IDW Publishing): In this conclusive issue, written by Kristen Beyer and Mike Johnson, with art by Megan Levens, colors by Charlie Kirchoff, and letters by Neil Uyetake, in order to solve the mystery of Illyria, the crew of Captain Pike’s Enterprise must travel to a not-so strange world: Vulcan. This gives the chance for a delightfully “crotchety” Vulcan elder to be introduced. Like the previous issues in this four-issue miniseries, the dialogue here can easily be imagined as being spoken by the on-screen incarnations of the characters. While not every member of the crew gets the spotlight in this issue, both M’Benga and Nurse Chapel get supporting roles, and taken as a whole, this miniseries does a good job of giving every crewmember (and Admiral April) at least one moment to shine. Meanwhile, all 4 issues pull from every corner of the Trek universe – not just the most popular shows of the 1990s. Those who are eagerly awaiting the return of Paramount+’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on June 15th will find The Illyrian Enigma to be a worthy salve. Just how will the events of this tale fit in with the continuing voyages of Pike’s Enterprise? It’s an entertaining enigma to ponder as the summer draws near. – Avery Kaplan
- Vampirella – Year One #6 (Dynamite): Vampirella Year One #6 is the finale to the story written by Christopher Priest with dynamic art and colors by Ergun Gunduz, creative and distinct letters by Willie Schubert, with epilogue art by Giovanni Timpano and colors by Flavio Dispenza as the narrative explores the nature of familial trauma and identity while expounding on Vampirella’s being stranded on Earth and introducing some familiar faces and foes. The scope of the series has shifted by the time we reach the conclusion, introducing extra-dimensional foes and engaging in a different kind of conflict that is less systemic but works to flesh out Vampirella’s origins and set up what is to come for the expectant titular character. —Khalid Johnson
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Wednesday Comics is edited by Zack Quaintance.
