Writer: Liz Prince
Artist: Amanda Kirk
Colors: Hannah Fisher
Letters: Jim Campbell
Coady and the Creepies would have absolutely been published by your middle school newspaper but I don’t know why anyone over the age of 12 would ever want to buy it.
This new series from BOOM! (as a part of their BOOM! Box imprint) is baffling in quality. I had to do multiple searches to ensure that the imprint wasn’t specifically targeted for younger audiences which would have excused the clunky, unnatural dialogue, the amateur plotting and pacing, and annoyingly childish tone. But, no, this is how the book was intended to be released and was assumed to be marketable to consumers who graduated middle-school. They were clearly mistaken.
This first issue follows “The Creepies”, a punk rock band composed of triplet sisters, Coady, Criss, and Corey who have suffered a terrible motor vehicle accident and must now deal with the repercussions. Corey is left with a scar, Criss is left wheelchair bound, and Coady is left miraculously and mysteriously unharmed. And from here, things just happen. Characters appear and disappear without any introduction or exposition, plot revelations occur with no buildup, subtlety, or foreshadowing, and the book’s big reveal/hook is bestowed upon to the audience with the grace of a sudden fart. Again, this would have been acceptable if this had been an amateur creator trying to make a name for themselves on Imgur or Tumblr or a fifth-grader making something for their art class, but BOOM! expects people to buy this.
I have nothing bad to say of the art. It’s intentionally simple and cartoonish to match the tone of the book. And for what it’s worth, the color palette is certainly engaging and is rife with energy and excitement. It’s unfortunate that all the momentum it builds is squandered by a script so devoid of any meaning or purpose
Verdict: Terrible
This book was clearly meant for younger audiences and BOOM! should have been more forthcoming about that aspect. It has a decent premise but there are absolutely no indications about themes or ideas the book wishes to discuss. The script is boring, poorly written, and is insulting to the intelligence of its audience at large. I don’t know why BOOM! was comfortable with publishing this book for sale.
