The Atomic Victory Squad is an independent comic book series, with a crowd-funding campaign via IndieGoGo, from creator Lowell Dean (Wolfcop, Supergrid), artist Javier Martin Caba, cover artist Mike Anderson and letterer Micah Myers. This is my review of issue 1:
The Atomic Victory Squad is a globe-trotting, world smashing superhero comic with characters that could only exist in animated form. They’re a team of unique misfits, forced to defend the earth when all the “real” heroes are violently killed.
CLICK HERE TO READ MY ATOMIC VICTORY SQUAD INTERVIEW WITH LOWELL DEAN
“When farmer Bob drank his hostage’s moo juice, he discovered it gave him super strength and a euphoric high. Bob mercilessly milked the orphan for years and sold his white water on the black market for millions.” – excerpt from AVS issue 1.
So… You thought your favorite superhero’s origin story was f***ed up? Take a stroll through the debut issue of The Atomic Victory Squad and behold some of the most twisted and fun superhero concepts in years. Most, if not all of these insane creations would feel right at home in a classic Garth Ennis hero book, which means writer Lowell Dean is doing one helluva job with his venture into the world of comics.
You may know Dean as the director of the Wolfcop flicks or more recently Supergrid (which was badass – read my review for that flick HERE) but if AVS issue one is any indication, he might have to hold off on directing any movies for the foreseeable future and keep pumping out more issues of this insane comic about a team of last-minute heroes assembled to tackle a global threat that eliminated all the “real” heroes before them.
Lets break down the team: INVINCIBULL is the leader of the AVS and his origin story, which WILL EXPLAIN THE UDDERS, is one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever read in a comic. It will truly stick with me in several ways – just wait until you see artist Javier Martin Caba’s images of Invincibull’s home planet… Jesus… GARY THE MIME doesn’t have much of a backstory yet, but his power reveal is brilliant and I can’t wait to see what other f***ed up things he’ll do in future issues.
ZOOZANNA has the coolest look and reminds me of Demona from the classic Disney animated series Gargoyles. She has the power to turn into various animals so she’s like Beast Boy in that respect, but if Beast Boy also ate people’s faces? BUBBLE MYERS is the one with the big helmet/face and I’m excited to see where that black hole he carries around leads to.
SHE-GIRL is a former pleasure bot turned warrior and she is simply fantastic. I laughed out loud reading her origin recap in which it’s mentioned that “she won’t tolerate misogyny to put it mildy,” while she puts a dude’s head into the wall – hard. Then we have the infamous TRIANGLE MASTER, who gains power as long as there are triangular shaped items lying around. There’s a lot of comedic gems to be found whenever Triangle Master enters the panel and I wouldn’t have it any other way. He scares me.
AVS issue one has a LOT of content and I think Dean and Caba did an admirable job creating this world and bringing life to such bizarre and wacky characters. I know that The Venture Bros., Rick and Morty and Bojack Horseman were all major influences on Dean while he was crafting the story — and you can definitely get that vibe throughout issue one. Dean also loaded the script with some damn fine jokes and comedy to keep the pace entertaining at all times. With AVS being a very mature comic, I can’t help but feel like this series is ripe for an eventual crossover into the Wolfcop universe…
If you’ve read ‘The Boys’ (from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson) and found the concept of twisted superheroes to be your jam — you need to order a copy of this comic immediately. The Atomic Victory Squad isn’t the best, they’re the rest — Buy this comic today.
Rating: [star rating=”5″]