The post-apocalypse has never looked so fabulous. Ales Kot, Tradd Moore, and Heather Moore present The New World, a romp-ish, buckwild love story set before the backdrop of post-second-Civil War America. You can think of it as a modern retelling of Romeo & Juliet with about 500% more lasers and visors. The vibe of the story is very ’90s hacker suspense thriller, and the art direction is very Dr. Seuss. It’s confusing, fun, and frantic with a lot of risky ideas.
Ales Kot is a bold storyteller. You might know him from his run on Iron Patriot or Winter Soldier, but I know him from his run on Bloodborne. His work is typically hyper-violent, yet rooted in heavy spiritually and vulnerable themes. A conflicted battle-ready protagonist faced with a “hard choice” might not be originally his invention, but he knows how to make the perfect meal of it. That soldier who defies their vindictive superior, a traveler choosing to stray the instructed path, or maybe just the moment a quiet moment between strangers while the world around them devolves into utter chaos is Ales Kot’s “bread and butter.”
What makes The New World stand out is its theatrical flare for explosive, colorful environments unlike anything I have seen in a very long time. The book is reminiscent of Tank Girl in the way it highlights the joy of chaos. There are all kinds of fun to be had in this idyllic reordering of our current world – a hottake which is jarring when juxtaposed against so many other doomsday predictions as of late. Then again, that is probably the whole point of The New World. What if everything in the future wasn’t worse, but just crazier? And also, what if trees in the future were pink?
Seriously, check out those funky trees!
A brand new science fiction IP is always welcome in my house. I am eager to see where the series goes and hope that the story does something interesting with the many existing properties it is pulling from. Image Comics, as always, is showcasing new work from talented people that leaves the mind’s palette fresh and minty. It is now up to the creative team to take us into The New World with the follow through promised from its beautifully psychedelic beginnings.
Creative Team: Ales Kot (writer), Tradd Moore (art), Heather Moore (art)
Publisher: Image Comics
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