Bravest Warriors #1 [review]

            It’s been months since I’ve bought comics, but I made a trip down to Salefish to order Cow Boy (The best thing I’ve read so far this year). As luck would have it, Bravest Warriors #1 came out today, and buying it alone reminded me just why I liked Wednesdays so much. Having a new comic in my car while trying to drive home to read it is just excruciating. Now I know what all you goyim go through on Christmas.

            I’ve been stoked for Bravest Warriors since I first read about it in February, and seeing it officially as a thing is just wonderful. It’s by Pendleton Ward and has the same art/humor style as Adventure Time. The tagline summarizes it best: Four 16-year old heroes-for-hire warping around galaxies and saving cute alien worlds with their emotions.

            The first issue does a great job of introducing the characters both through narration and dialog, using the premise that they are relaxing with a movie night. There’s Chris, the ultra-rad dude who “isn’t afraid to put safety first in the kitchen. Wallow is a super-nice, super-big samoan dude who “can bench-press like a billion pounds. Danny “laughs at danger even when danger hasn’t told a joke yet”. Beth has the same Princess Bubblegum science attitude when she makes cupcakes fight to the death. There’s also Plum, the unofficial 5^th Bravest Warrior who immediately reminds anyone familiar of Marceline the Vampire Queen.

            There’s a lot of Adventure Time visible in Bravest Warriors, but that isn’t a bad thing. It’s a solid book in it’s own right and I’m really excited that it’s here. It’s funny and unabashedly positive (which there isn’t enough of in comics), and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

            The back-up story (which is something more comics need to do) is also great. It’s another solid story that does a good job characterizing the team while they play laser tag against each other for who will get shotgun in their spaceship. It also has one of my favorite lines in the first issue, “My instinct to heroically sacrifice myself for the team beat out my incredible killer instinct”.

                                         

              It’s things like that which showcase just why Bravest Warriors is good. It’s funny. It’s sincere. Most importantly there’s a heart to it that makes you like the characters immediately. The thing about that line is it wouldn’t work without the face. Chris is serious about his instincts. You can see the same line from Finn in Adventure Time and not roll your eyes because you know they both mean it.

              Bravest Warriors is good, and I can’t wait for the next issue. There are variant covers out the wazoo so pick your favorite. It’s definitely a buy. It feels nice to be this excited about a series again. Pick it up at your local comic book shop before the cool Star Wars cover is gone.