Ohaaaa, the excitement.
I’m not so much of a comic reader. I read manga, I read graphic novels, but for some reason I’ve never felt really close to most western comics (despite spending my childhood reading Micky Mouse comics). I can’t say why. But I made an exception when I found out that Noah Sebastian of Bad Omens was involved in creating a comic (at this point I must say that I’d also make this exception for Gerard Way’s comics. Yes, I am a victim to nerdy musicians that turn into comic authors / artists). And not just any comic, it’s actually a Bad Omens themed comic featuring Bad Omens as characters. Why would I not want that?
To get these comics in Germany, you either have to do a bit more research or order them from the US. Or you have a very nice Santa Clause (aka my soulmate, better half and person who’s mainly responsible for my Bad Omens addiction…) who gets them for you as a Christmas gift. So I spent the morning of the 25th reading these comics.
Here they are in all their glory. There’s a bunch of different covers for each issue, drawn by different artists – including Nicholas Ruffilo himself. Honestly, I would probably have sold my soul for one of Nick’s covers, but unfortunately nobody wants my soul. People want money. And the German shop the comics were ordered from didn’t have them on offer. It’s still possible to get them from the US, but they’re expensive, they’re even more expensive when signed and then you have to pay the shipping and most likely customs on top. I understand that my beloved little Christmas elf wasn’t willing to spend so much money. And I personally think I’m not yet enough of a die-hard Nicholas Ruffilo fangirl to be willing to invest so much money into … well … comics. (Neither am I nerdy enough for that.) Instead, my christmas elf went for covers that show the whole band and kinda … fit to each other, aesthetics-wise – and I love each of them.
Issue one’s cover is cover A by Chuck P. Issue two is also cover A by Ivan Fiorelli and issue three is cover B, also drawn by Ivan Fiorelli. There are also issues with photo covers, taken by Bad Omens’s incredible photographer Bryan Kirks, but while I love Bryan’s photos, I think those live shots don’t exactly match the vibe of the comics.
The comics were created by Noah Sebastian himself, Kevin Roditeli and Nicola Izzo and I love the art style it’s drawn in (on the website of Sumerian.Ink you can look at the first few pages of issue one if you’re interested). It took me a moment though to distinguish the characters (flashback to when I still had no idea about Bad Omens and would not be able to tell Jolly apart from Nicholas). Also my manga roasted brain needed to get used to western reading style again and it took me a moment to figure out in which order to read the panels.
The comic tosses you immeditately into the action and for the entire first issue, I had no clue what was going on. I was absolutely confused, but I still had the time of my live because of all the song references. Reading felt like a treasure hunt to get as many references as possible. Another interesting part was the way the characters were presented. Noah of course somehow being at the centre of everything, then Nicholas Ruffilo becoming a damn badass hero, Jolly and his phone being a threat to their mission. I’m missing a bit of deeper characterisation of Nick Folio so far.
Throughout the second issue, I got more of a grip of the story, but I really had to remind myself that in a game or a book that starts in medias res, I wouldn’t have a clue what is going on either and it isn’t a matter of the medium and my unfimiliarity with it that I didn’t understand what was going on. Once the action settled a little and stuff calmed down, I found my way into the story. And the beginning of issue three touched me in a way that I wanted to cry and listen to The Grey on repeat for the rest of the week.
Speaking of songs, I like the way actual Bad Omens songs are used in the comics like a soundtrack. Each time a song came in, my head started imagining the action like a movie scene with the song playing in my mind. The first song used, Take Me First, already underlines the scenery perfectly well. And then … Beacon Bee comes up, accompanied by lyrics of Concrete Jungle and I honestly had no idea what was happening. In part 2, their escape and Jolly’s „excellent“ driving skills became a lot more intense with Artificial Suicide in mind. And that touching beginning of issue three made me a lot more sentimental because of The Grey. The choice of songs made the comic more vivid and set a certain mood or atmosphere for each issue I’d say. And I don’t know about your habits, but I took the time to sing along every damn line (at least in my head because I definitely lack the vocal skills for Artifical Suicide).
I’m hooked. Issue three ended with a cliffhanger and I can’t wait to get to read issue 4, which can be preordered at the moment, but we’re waiting for it to be published because with the last few issues, more cover variants have been added after the releases. Also issue 4 was announced to be the final of volume 1, so I wonder if my questions (Who’s the Rule Maker? What’s the Beacon Bee’s meaning? What about D? Who’s Mira? Is Noah the masked friend?) will be answered in the upcoming issue – or if some of the mysteries will remain unanswered for a while.
To be fair, though, I don’t know if anybody who’s not into Bad Omens would take as much joy out of those comics as I did. Then again, given their current popularity I highly doubt that there’ll be a lack of audience for those comics.