Comics Review: "Escape from New York" #1

- by Ninja Ross, 10 December 2014

Here at Trash Mutant, we love to celebrate the most awesome movie characters to ever hit the big screen. Characters like Robocop, for example. We might have mentioned him once or twice. But today, we’re here to celebrate the man who everyone thought was dead: Snake Plissken.

The logo-less cover. Click to enlarge.

Boom Studios seems to have a Thing for John Carpenter lately, having recently released the comic book sequel to Big Trouble in Little China and now the comic book sequel to Escape From New York. This is, of course, not a bad thing. Everyone should have a love for John Carpenter movies. The Big Trouble in Little China comic was a huge success,

At the end of Escape From New York, Snake has rescued the President of the United States and a tape containing a very important speech, which Snake switches for a “Bandstand Boogie.”

Written by Christopher Sebela, with art provided by Diego Barreto, the comic book kicks off at this very moment. Snake makes a run for it, hijacking a helicopter and becoming a wanted man again.

After crashing a helicopter during his escape, he hitchhikes south, where he meets up with a band of religious pilgrims on their way to Florida, where they believe “The Twins” have turned the place into a paradise.

Screw manners, Snake removes the pilot by his pant leg.

Naturally, things aren’t as smooth as Snake would like. Things go wrong, people are killed and there’s more crashing helicopters. It’s all very spectacular, I assure you.

Carpenter built quite a world in Escape From New York; the world is on the brink of war and America’s crime rate is so high that New York has been turned into a giant prison and pretty much abandoned. Everyone who enters is in there for life. Unless you’re Snake Plissken, of course.

He's very clearly not dead.

So, it’s pretty ambitious of Sebela to try and explore the world created by Carpenter and flesh it out a bit, taking a look at other parts of America and the people who live there. He actually does a really good job of it, creating characters that look and feel like they belong in the original movie. He helps to really flesh out the dystopian world we first saw in 1981, showing a ruined America full of desperation.
  
Most important, however, is Snake Plissken himself - Sebela writes him perfectly, making sure to make him an over the top badass. Sebela is clearly a fan of the movie and of '80s action films in general. This is good news!
 
Barreto helps add to the 80s feel with a bright yet grimy art style, which easily captures the look of the original movie. He makes everything look bleak but pretty! Snake occasionally looks a bit older and worn out than you might expect but, for the most part, everything looks great. 
 

Ahh, the '80s. When cassette tapes ruled the world.

The action scenes seem a bit few and far between, with Sebela focusing mostly on world building to start with, but when they hit, they’re awesome and full of explosions. That’s how action scenes should be!

It’s a good book and definitely a great start to what I expect to be a near perfect sequel to the original. I’m looking forward to seeing how Snake deals with sunny California and the ominous twins. I highly doubt things are going to be smooth.

If you’re not reading this book, I’ll hit ya. Go out, put money in some guy’s hand and demand this comic book from them.


"Escape from New York" #1 came out last week. Did you get it? If you didn't, you better get it NOW and leave us a comment about how awesome it is!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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