This week the Wednesday Comics Reviews team digs into some licensed books, including Adventure Time #1 and the newest story arc of Transformers #19, as well as the return of Phantom Road, the latest issue of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and more. We also look ahead at new titles eligible for pre-order, including News From the Fallout and Whatever Happened to Crimson Justice? Plus, as always, The Prog Report!
Adventure Time #1
Writer: Nick Winn, Derek M Ballard
Artist: Nick Winn, Derek M Ballard
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Publisher: Oni Press
Review by Jordan Jennings
Note: This review focuses on the primary feature of Adventure Time #1– Best of Buds part 1 by Writer/ artist Nick Winn. The issue does include a back-up feature by Derek M. Ballard, but that was not made available for review at the time of publication.
Oh Glob, Adventure Time is back with new comics from Oni Press with Adventure Time #1 by Nick Winn and Derek M. Ballard. This issue represents the start of the Best of Buds story arc that features Finn and Jake questing for the mythical tome: The Enchiridion. This quest promises to be filled with danger and adventure as you never know who you’ll run into in the Land of Ooo.
Nick Winn does a fantastic job in this issue capturing the look and feel of the Adventure Time tv show. Winn captures the character’s voices and distinct visual body language with a surprisingly high fidelity. To be honest, I haven’t heard much about Nick Winn before. So for this review I went to check out Winn’s past credits and I was amazed to find their extensive work on character design for other tv series such as Craig of the Creek and their own indie comics work. Their eye for animation is apparent in this issue.
Winn illustrates the book with a lot of kinetic energy, be it Finn and Jake bouncing around between panels or the small actions of background characters. It gives the comic a great sense of life and energy. One of my favorite techniques that Winn uses to instill energy into this comic is playing around with the comics medium in general. There are multiple instances where the action literally breaks the panel and wraps through the gutters. While this can be risky in breaking the visual language of the comic, it works well here as Winn uses it to bring the reader’s eyes across the page and direct the reader to the action. It is a visual treat of a comic that is just as vibrant as the tv show.
As for the writing, Winn plays to the character’s strengths and opts to let the visuals do the heavy lifting. It is nice to see an artist avoid the pitfall of over-writing their comic.As previously mentioned, the character voices are inline with the tv series and while it may run counter to the show’s continuity, it feels very much in universe of the show and fitting of a series that can be interpreted as a series of myths and legends that don’t exactly have to blend together seamlessly.
Overall, Adventure Time #1 is off to a great start for the series in continuing the spirit of the show and comics that have come before it. Nick Winn does a stellar job bringing these characters to life on the page and is a must read for any fan of the tv series.
Final Verdict: Buy
Transformers #19
Writer: Daniel Warren Johnson
Artist: Ludo Lullabi
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Rus Wooten
Publisher: Image Comics
Review by Jared Bird
Transformers kicks off its next major story arc with Issue #19, which finally answers the mystery of Megatron’s disappearance for a large portion of the series to date. In doing so, it delivers one of its best stories yet, showcasing once more why the title is the Energon Universe’s best.
Transformers #19 showcases the trial of Megatron, abducted by a mysterious alien entity that are simultaneously both Transformers and something else completely. It evokes Franz Kafka’s legendary novel The Trial to create a compelling, self contained story for the infamous antagonist, as he fights against his captors to prove he truly is one being above everyone else. As a first showing for how series writer Daniel Warren Johnson depicts Megatron, it’s fantastic, and his voice for the character seems calculated and perfected, seamlessly integrating with what you might expect whilst adding a sense of flavour and soul befitting Johnson’s work. It’s a fun and exciting story about the leader of the Decepticons, enriched with a sense of Kafkaesque dark humour that really completes the issue.
Guest artist Ludo Lullabi does an incredible job at depicting the violent trial, filling the pages with enough robot violence to make Michael Bay blush. However, it’s done with a level of care and practice that ensures its quality, with each page flowing beautifully into the next, and every individual moment laid out well and incredibly readable. The level of detail he puts into the pages is fantastic, balancing a cartoon-influenced style with a more vivid visual presentation that works incredibly well in line with the other artists of the series.
Throughout this series Daniel Warren Johnson continues to prove his mettle as one of the best writers working in the industry today, and this issue is no different. His dialogue is witty and fun, immensely readable from page to page whilst also conveying a sense of weight and large-scale storytelling that befits a narrative like this. He clearly has a lot of passion for the material, introducing deep-cut Transformers concepts like Sharkticons in a way that feels seamless and exciting instead of mere fanservice. He imbues every character, even Decepticons, with a level of emotional understanding, depth and nuance that makes them feel more fleshed out than previous iterations, and it’s a joy to behold.
Overall, Transformers #19 is a riveting and excellent standalone issue perfect for any reader interested in the series, telling a funny and exciting story about the legendary Megatron. Whilst it is still yet to be seen how it will factor into the larger series overarching narrative, it features fantastic artwork that jumps off the page in addition to the great script by Johnson. As he approaches the end of his time on the title, he continues to show why it’s the strongest book in the Energon Universe library, in no small part due to his excellent work throughout alongside incredibly strong collaborators.
Rapid Wednesday Comics Reviews
Phantom Road #11 (Image Comics): I absolutely loved Phantom Road #1, as I wrote back in March 2023 when the series launched. With scripts by Jeff Lemire and artwork by Gabriel H. Walta with colors by Jordie Bellaire and letters by Steve Wands, it’s a book with near-flawless comics craft. It reads quick, looks amazing, and delivers a spooky sunshine highway ambiance that felt familiar to me, even if I’ve never quite seen it conveyed this way before. Over time, however, it faded a bit from my favorites. This tends to happen sometimes with ongoing books as new series launch and feel more novel. But this week’s Phantom Road #11 — which begins a new story arc titled The Horrormen (great title) — was my favorite issue of the book since the debut. The perspective of the book shifts to a new character who gets mixed up in the world we come to know, and in the process starts to reveal more about what’s going on here. It feels like it might be starting an end game for the book, or at least orienting the reader in a way that will move toward some kind of high moment. I thought it was great, bringing much more of what’s happening in this weird story into focus, without sacrificing any of the ambiance. I feel like I’m excited about this book now all over again. —Zack Quaintance
Star Trek – Lower Decks #6 (IDW Publishing): In “Desperate Times, Part 2,” we get the conclusive chapter for the story that began in Star Trek: Lower Decks #5. This issue is from the same creative team for that one: written by Ryan North, with art by Jack Lawrence, colors by Charlie Kirchoff, letters by Clayton Cowles and design & production by Johanna Nattalie. We pick up with the Lower Deckers having been transported to the deck of the H.M.S. Titanic mere minutes before it hits the iceberg. This issue is primarily a vehicle for the exploration of some of North’s favorite pet topics, like time travel paradoxes, the H.M.S. Britannica, dinosaurs and, of course, meta bottom-of-the-page jokes. This isn’t a complaint, though, since those topics are all interesting and it’s clear that North has spent a lot of time thinking about them. I especially enjoyed a sequence in which Mariner proposes they avoid falling into the usual pitfalls associated with time travel stories by enumerating said pitfalls. And while dinosaurs do not get as many panels as I might have hoped, the cameo they do enjoy comports with the current scientific understanding of their appearance (feathered and in garish color). Ultimately I did feel this story could have been expanded to include three issues instead of just two. And as always, I did wish that there was some back matter included. But regardless, this is a satisfying conclusion for an interesting storyline that draws on both Star Trek canon and the time travel genre in general. Are you keeping up with this excellent series? —Avery Kaplan
FOC Watch
These books are available for pre-order now.
News From The Fallout #1
Writer: Chris Condon
Artist: Jeffrey Alan Love
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: June 25, 2025
Review by Ricardo Serrano Denis
Atomic bombs are the horrors that keep on giving. There’s not a single situation in which the mere thought of their use doesn’t bring about visions of the end of the world. Cold War-era horror and sci-fi excelled at using the bomb as a source of cosmic threat and monster creation to drive the point home on how close to complete oblivion nuclear power had taken us (consider Them! or Godzilla, ants and lizards respectively that became behemoths after exposure to radiation). Chris Condon and Jeffrey Alan Love land on this concept with their new series Notes from the Fallout, a black, white, and very gray comic about the monsters we create and how we bring them down upon ourselves.
The story takes place in 1962 and centers on private Fallows, one in a group of soldiers that has been chosen to be guinea pigs for a big brass general who’s ordered a nuclear detonation for what looks like unsanctioned and extremely dangerous human experimentation. As to be expected, the whole exercise leads to some of the soldiers becoming flesh-eating creatures, because that’s what atomic bombs did in the Sixties. A mad scramble ensues, and then it’s all about survival.
Condon’s dialogue is economical but ominous, resorting to short exchanges that leave more questions than answers. There’s an air of secrecy behind every line of text and it works to create an immediate sense of unease. It reminded me a bit of the early chapters of Stephen King’s The Stand. It goes straight to the apocalyptic event and never lets up on the horror. Listen close and you’ll hear Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper playing in the distance.
This is all amplified by Jeffrey Alan Love’s silhouette-heavy art. Characters are shrouded in different shades of greys and blacks that echo shadow puppet work. They transition from one panel to the other in that same style too, though not every single character gets this treatment (which keeps things versatile). Alan Love proves to be very intentional with poses and body language because of this, especially when one considers there aren’t many facial expressions on display. Tone and atmosphere are wrapped around those silhouettes and they combine for a look that evokes the black and white movie aesthetic of the 50s and 60s, but with more modern inks and textures. Imagine a Twilight Zone episode with current indie sensibilities.
Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou takes full advantage of the dark silhouettes to get creative with text placement. Traditional word balloons comingle with bits of text placed in shadows and even inside character outlines because of the predominantly black quality of the art design. It creates a kind of “classified document” feel that further deepens the idea that truly terrible things are taking place and that they will scale to the detriment of human existence should information get out.
Notes from the Fallout #1 is a deliciously grim start to a series that has its eyes on putting humanity through yet another doomsday scenario. What makes this one special, though, is its overall design. The story is allowed to unspool slowly, with death and destruction taking its time with the people involved. Dialogue that deceives and gloomy character designs converge for an experience that finds a lot of despair mixed in with the intrigue surrounding the bomb test. And like most disasters, it’s impossible not to look at.
Whatever Happened to Crimson Justice? #1
Writer: Frank Tieri
Art: Inaki Miranda
Colors: Eva de la Cruz
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Publication Date: May 21, 2025
Review by Clyde Hall
If you’ve ever read the seminal Alan Moore two-issue wrap to Superman’s Silver Age era, 1986’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”, and wondered how Batman might fare given a similar treatment, wonder no more.
In a manner mirroring how Moore took even the most Comics Code-approved themes of that Superman period, examined them through a more mature, finite lens, and carefully placed them aside as new iterations of the Man of Steel began, writer Frank Tieri attempts a similar Dark Knight analog with the first issue of this 5-issue miniseries.
Once, Gotham City was watched over by a frightening vigilante, a creature of the night who made criminal predators his prey. The Batman inspired others to similar feats of heroism in the cause of justice and trained younger generations to carry on the battle he began. Cut now to Empire City, where all these same feats were performed by a masked vigilante called the Crimson Justice.
But that was nearly forty years before our story begins when the superhero and his wards Reddy and Scarlet Girl disappeared following a tragic hospital fire which not only apparently claimed their lives, but that of their greatest nemesis, Dr. Mayhem. In the years since, those masked men and women who once fought crime alongside Crimson Justice have met tragic ends of varying degrees. Meanwhile, Empire City has become a vice-infested corpse of its former self.
A few remember the glory days when, “Justice runs red!” made scofflaw blood freeze and brought hope to the urban masses. One of them is Willie, a wannabe writer researching the legendary exploits of the vigilante for his great American novel. Another is John, owner and short order cook of John’s Coffee Shop, although being the eldest of the two, he finds all the stories big on legend and short on fact.
Until, that is, the sudden return of Dr. Mayhem and his murder of Police Commissioner Ted Burke. The crime suddenly brings the city’s focus back to the events of the Great Hospital Fire of ’85 and the exploits of the mysterious crimefighter long thought deceased. It’s that moment when Tieri begins applying a mature, finite lens to this melodramatic, Batman-like narrative and shows how, even in comic book stories, there are fates worse than dying outright for a cause.
True, DC has explored similar avenues in works like The Killing Joke but Tieri should have the benefit of freedom exploring avenues even the Black Label imprint would shy away from. We definitely get a peek at this grittier, seamier side of Empire in the first issue. As well, the matter of what sort of existence a masked vigilante might endure if forced into being only his secret identity, not his true self, is made ready for dissection. Under PTSD and severe trauma, could even the most dedicated crimefighter, the individual who is more the mask than the civilian beneath it, have a normal life once his existence is effectively halved? And if so, how?
The concept has promise and the first issue locks readers into finding out more regarding what happened in ’85 and how ghosts of that urban tragedy have risen red and wriggling four decades later. Inaki Miranda’s art certainly helps bring both the stalwart days of Empire and its seedy present into sharp focus. He has the talent for giving young followers of Crimson Justice a twinkle behind the mask, a grin beneath the cowl one panel, and a dead-eyed stare of timeworn, extinct hope the next.
The launch of Whatever Happened to the Crimson Justice should lock Batman fans open to exploring the possibilities of how far their Bat-Fam could fall if Gotham was a little more like the real world and their heroes more mortal than superheroic. Based on where the trail blazed by the creative team in the first chapter leads, it may bring uncomfortable seat-squirming for some. But if a vision of what failure and the clay feet of even legendary heroes might look like is something which interests you, this is a title you shouldn’t pass up. And chances are it’s going to spark comic shop talk among mature readers.
The Prog Report
2000AD 2427 (Rebellion Publishing): Coming out of last week’s over-sized quarterly bumper issue, we get another Prog this week that’s a great jumping on point, with four new strips beginning and a fifth that just launched last week. Before getting to the new stuff, the continuing story is Chimpsky’s Law: The Truth Conundrum by writer Ken Niemand, artist PJ Holden, colorist Jack Davies, and letterer Annie Parkhouse. I absolutely love this character and this new story, which pairs Chimpsky with a robot who’s trying to fix things via being terrible (although he doesn’t see it that way). What’s at the heart of the strip is the fantastic interplay between Chimpsky and this robot, which moved the plot forward and was also a good laugh. The four new series that kickoff this week are a pretty great mix, ranging from a totally new world in Ghosted to new Judge Dredd and new Nu Earth to the return of one of my personal favorites from last year, the alien vs. vampires story, Silver. I’ll write my about each of this in the week’s to come, but Silver especially is a welcome sight. It’s well written by Mike Carroll and the lettering by Simon Bowland is great as always, but the real star of this show is the artwork of Joe Currie. It’s not an exaggeration to say it’s among my favorite art in all of comics, and I can’t wait to see where this bonkers tale continues to go. This week’s cover (above) is by Cliff Robinson, with colors by Dylan Teague. As always, you can pick up a digital copy of The Prog here. —Zack Quaintance
Column edited by The Beat’s reviews editor, Zack Quaintance. Read past entries in the weekly Wednesday Comics reviews series!
Next week, Moonshine Bigfoot #1 stomps into stores, G.I. Joe #6 wraps up the Energon Universe’s newest story arc, and more!
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