Comic Review: It’s Only Teenage Wasteland #1 (Dark Horse Comics)

Are we wasting our time and money with It’s Only Teenage Wasteland #1 from Dark Horse? Let’s find out, bro:

This new title begins with a costumed crazy man yelling in a department store. He’s got a sword, and a sidekick too. He’s yelling foul things, the place is wrecked and deserted except for one young fellow who is cowering in an aisle, hiding. But that’s not the story, yet.

Then we are in the same teen guy’s bedroom, decades earlier, while he entertains himself with porn. Writer Curt Pires brings us the uncomfortable, the icky, the awkward, and the uneasy social groupings of the teen years. It’s a guy’s guy’s world, bro, and the story is a Mature one, as these young fellows stumble around their adolescence. They plan, balk from In Real Life gatherings, and bond with each other over gaming sessions.

But then, an inciting incident, a rainbow of hope: Javi’s parents are leaving the house to his sister and him for the weekend. And that means: wild party!!!

Artist Jacoby Salcedo captures the goings-on with well-drawn characters and an imaginatively applied visual style. The pages vary in number of panels, sometimes jammed together, sometimes with loads of white space around. It’s the same with the figures INSIDE the panels too: sometimes claustrophobic, other times at arm’s length. Salcedo’s thick and thin solid line renderings are just right for this book, lending a uniform, even-handed look to the otherwise outrageous shenanigans.

Mark Dale’s colours tend toward the bright and cheery, again with white space taken into consideration. Letters are by Micah Myers.

Curt Pires’ intro chapter runs long, in my opinion, to the point where the Prologue is only a distant memory by the time we wind up the book. But it’s got heart, and wonderfully rich dialogue and drama, so let’s keep this title in mind, and go on to check out the second issue soon!

Oh, I want to mention that I appreciated that the creators included a QR code on the back cover; it links to their bios, art pages, and more about the comic itself. Very cool and totally NOT a waste of time.

Dark Horse, It’s Only Teenage Wasteland #1, $3.99 for 32 pages of content. Mature.