The world’s about to change.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tim Seeley
Art: Priscilla Petraites
Colors: Marco Lesko
Letterer:
What They Say:
In the days to come, a superpowered teenage girl wipes the heavily disputed Old City of Jerusalem from the face of the globe. Now, in American dystopia after the “Lady Last Word Incident”, a clickbait headline writing “journalist” holds the key to a med-tech conspiracy that could turn people into gods for the price of days off their lives. But in a world where news is tailored to every viewpoint, will anyone believe her?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
When a title like Brilliant Trash shows up looking like it does you can’t help but to be intrigued. I’ve not had the best of luck with Tim Seeley’s work from what little I’ve read but that’s why an original creation series is an interesting one as you get more of their unfiltered self letting loose and engaging where they really want to without the confines of established character material. Seeley’s well paired with Priscilla Petraites to tell something that feels really powerful in a way, a kind of rawness and energy with an intensity to the character designs and flow of the book that you get from someone that’s relatively new to the published comics scene. After being a part of the DC Comics Artist Workshop class of 2017, this is definitely a strong debut that puts her on my must-follow list going forward with projects.
And a book like Brilliant Trash is one that will also take some time to really figure out as the opening installment throws a lot at us. There’s a sense of the world we know being the baseline here, one that’s a bit more intense and oppressive in a way, where a mystery woman known as Lady Lastword talks about how humanity must move to the next stage and let go of the tribalism and understand that we are all one tribe that has greater challenges to face in the future. It’s a life-ending declaration that they’re aware they’re making as the militarized forces coming to stop her broadcasts aren’t going to do it easily. But it’s her self-sacrifice by disappearing in a blinding light explosion that makes an impact on some, though most think she was a hoax or some special effects viral work. The destruction in Jerusalem says otherwise but that’s how it goes. It’s a strong setup that speaks to the bigger issues at play before focusing on introducing the cast.
And that’s not exactly problematic but we’re thrown several different things at us where not all of them will survive. The real focus is on a writer named Avis Kennedy that’s been picked by a mysterious old woman to be injected with a virus, presumably to make her the new incarnation of Lady Lastword, who finds herself being saved by a motley crew of superheroes at the end of the book. Prior to that we get a look at the focus on clickbait over truth in online journalism and the people gravitate toward that with simple and easy but true indictments of it all. We think one person is going to be our focus before it shifts to Avis and it’s definitely interesting to watch the professional back and forth unfold, all while a mystery fighter elsewhere is taking down a powered individual with flames he can generate. All of this while the women talk about how superheroes aren’t real and the world feels like it’s on the verge of ending with the almost claustrophobic pressure that comes from how Petraites designs the layouts and all that’s within it, whether it’s the bar or Avis’ home.
In Summary:
Brilliant Trash is the kind of series where in its first issue I can see the edges of brilliance to it if it can pull it off. Seeley’s got some neat ideas to work with here that I like and am in favor of and he’s landed a fantastic artist to bring it to life with as Petraites has something special here, especially with Lesko’s color work bringing it to life even more. The oppressive feeling of the book clicks well and the hyper-aware aspects of the journalist/clickbait side resonates as well. I’m really intrigued to see where this book wants to go when it comes to Avis and those it introduces in the last pages that hint at the larger story, as well as understanding more of Lady Lastword and her supposed goals. Definitely a book to keep an eye on for several reasons.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: November 15th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
