In The Lickman Nuclear Power Faculty, New Jersey, a black Janitor by the name of Luther Albert Joyce finds himself locked in during a Core Discrepancy, and loses consciousness in a hail of radiation. A clean-up team finds his body, and acting on instructions, dispose of it into the river. Luther later wakes up as a radioactive mutant on the shores of the Hudson. Elsewhere, disaffected teenager Louella Scwartz decides to quit her job at a Mr Porpcicle stand, selling dolphin sushI pops, after reading about Dr Emil Flounder, innovator of the Brain Transplantation Process, and Head of the Clinic of Crainio-Brainio Youth Restorative Surgery. Incensed by his policy of charging incredibly large sums of money for this technique, she decides to make a difference herself. Luther finds her abandoned stand, stocks up on the ice pops, and reads the newspaper she left behind, which gives him an idea for a way out of his rapidly decaying body. And thus ends page 5.
It's not just the well-paced plot, though. It's the rounded characters, the great sense of humour, and the really eye-wateringly beautiful art (the faces, in particular, are some of the best B&W I've ever seen) that make this such a real find. And somebody says "Eat Leaden Death, Capitalist Gore-Monger!" on page 9. Way cool.
Art:5
Writing:5
Andrew