In a world of Comics Beat, The Comics Journal, CBR, and all that other riff raff – there seems very little coverage for the working man’s comic book review. The layman and the low brow has long been left by the wayside as academics try to elevate modern silly books to a status of class and superiority. None of which you’ll ever find here – welcome to Comics Reviewed Badly.
A review series where creators names will be spelt wrong, publishers will be referenced as the devil and a final humorous verdict will be left. And no I’m not sorry.
Specs #1 – BOOM! Studios
Published by BOOMer! Studios, Specs #1 takes us into suburban Ohio amidst a tale filled with the impossible coming to life in the form of one pair of dodgy looking sunglasses.
Starting off the narrative is from the voice of Kenny, looking back 30 years ago into the world of 1987, specifically at the disappearance of small town bully, Skunk.
Write David M Booyeah tells the story through the lens of queer kid, Kenny, who is secretly in love with his pal, Ted, but is too scared to tell him because holy shit would coming out in the 80s have been a shit time for gay folks to do it.
With Kenny and Ted obsessed with comics, they come across an old comic book where the back cover has one of those merchandise deals where you send away for a pair of sunglasses. Although they don’t get around to sending away for these sunglasses thanks to a fight between Skunk and Ted resulting in Ted being given detention.
Still, that doesn’t stop a pair of the mysterious sunglasses from turning up randomly on Kenny’s front porch. Nor does it stop the pair from trying the magic of the ‘sunnies’ on almost every given scenario. Except on making Ted love Kenny back. Don’t wanna mess with that. We all know what happened to Xander in that Buffy episode.
As we encroach on the 20th page, the two teens are headed through the woods after one of Ted’s baseball games, only to encounter Skunk in the woods who attacks them in the woods and in true R.L. Stine form makes that unwanted motherf***er disappear like in Cuckoo Clock of Doom!
Chris Sheet-Ham’s artwork takes us to a memorable time where life was simpler and technology was limited only by the throes of one’s imagination. An aspect that is made all the more retro thanks to the coloring of The Romans Are Coming Stevens!
Verdict: The creators of this comic book don’t know it yet but those suave bastards have created a Goosebumps comic book – except with a buttload of authenticity!
RELATED: Read the First 5 Pages of SPECS #2 – For Free
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