Dandelion Trade Paperback Review

 

Writer: Sabir Pirzada

Artists: Martin Morazzo, Vanesa Del Rey, Eric Koda, Roy Allan Martinez, Gegé Schall, Thomas Campi, Adrian Rivero, Juha Veltti & Marquis Rogers

Colorists: Juha Veltti, Jacob Phillips & Lee Loughridge

Letterers: Aditya Bidikar & Taylor Esposito

Dandelion Concept Artist: Corwin Herse Woo

Pin-Up Artist: David Mack

Cover Artist: Tula Lotay

Back Cover Artist: Mark S. Brunner

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $16.99

Release Date: June 19, 2024

 

Life forces Reggie and his wife to abandon life on land. Experimental surgery can't help Amy walk again. Still, hospital bills leave them bankrupt. So Reggie and Amy scrounge up enough money for a radical new scheme. They will become Exiles from Earth and join the growing Lighter Than Air community. How will Reggie and Amy enjoy life among the clouds? And how did this movement begin? Let's pack our clothes, leap into Dandelion TP, and find out!

 

Story

In Sabir Pirzada’s story, Jen Nakamuto dreams of living above the land. She investigates the capabilities of solar energy, lightweight materials, and wind-harnessing technology. An ever-growing Human population scrambles constantly for their patch of land and often loses it due to global warming, political upheaval, and economic factors. Why not build airborne homes and float among the clouds?

 

In Dandelion TP, Jen imagines floating docking stations where these drifting homes can gather and form global communities. Unlike land-based cities, people can move and take their homes with them. Dandelion owners can enjoy the comfort of their homes while traveling anywhere at a moment's notice. Thanks to advancements in automation, machines perform most manual labor. Why not use drones to bring food and remove waste?

 

As with any dream, the rich and influential find ways to coopt Jen's dream. Once people like Reggie and Amy take to the skies, they can never return. Governments harness Jen's social movement to reduce problems like illegal immigration and homelessness. Instead of squeezing low-income earners into overcrowded housing and subsidizing their food, the poor and displaced enjoy five-bedroom homes, free utilities, and drone-delivered meals.

 

People like Reggie may regret the circumstances that forced them to become Exiles. Like Charlotte Brontë's novel Shirley, Dandelion TP tackles technological and societal evolution. Some who take to the sky will stage protests and attack those who forced them to abandon life on land. Still, that doesn’t stop people like Reggie and Amy from enjoying better lives in the clouds.

 

Art

A community of artists descends on Sabir Pirzada’s story to show how people live on land and in the air. Martin Morazzo, Vanesa Del Rey, Eric Koda, Roy Allan Martinez, Gegé Schall, Thomas Campi, Adrian Rivero, Juha Veltti, and Marquis Rogers portray these floating homes, overcrowded cities, and talented revolutionaries. An out-of-shape salesperson forces Reggie to give up the possession he most cherishes for the woman he loves. Yet the wasteland where they take to the skies later thrives with life that defies their expectations and provides healing.

 

Juha Veltti, Jacob Phillips, and Lee Loughridge fill the myriad stories in Dandelion TP with a lavish spectrum of color. Purple-suited Clown Killers rain red upon greedy executives. Yellow and green enhance a protest on an island that sparks a violent response. Red and green suffuse one man's efforts to preserve traditional agricultural methods and uphold a family legacy. After two women meet in a purple and green skybar, they chart the limits of their Dandelions among the blue clouds. Perhaps the most heartwarming story is told in soft blues and features a person garbed in red and white.

 

Aditya Bidikar and Taylor Esposito's white letters enhance the birth of Jen Nakamuto's dream. Uppercase black letters fill orange and lavender narrative boxes as two women race through the starry night. Lowercase white lettering on black accompanies glimpses of Jen and diagrams of dandelions. An octopus and a bird speak white words into black dialogue balloons. Enlarged and colorful lettering helps us hear a familiar holiday cry. Sound effects amplify gunfire and malfunctioning drones, and green letters overlay a 3D graphic display as pirates sail their wooden ship into a sunken city in Dandelion TP. Thanks to Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

When a restauranteur uses her bargaining skills to convince investors to fund her dream, she sparks a revolution in Human history. Jen Nakamuto’s dream becomes a springboard for stories exploring how Humanity’s move to Lighter Than Air Living changes life on Earth and charts the Poor’s path to freedom. The poems, podcast excerpts, conference transcripts, and stories in the Dandelion TP remind us how we resist change, create legends, and transform dreams into reality.

 

Rating 10/10

 

This review originally appeared on Comic Book Dispatch.

The Sacred Damned #1 Review

 

Writer: Sabir Pirzada

Artist: Michael Walsh

Colorist: Toni Marie Giffin & Michael Walsh

Letterer & Designer: Becca Carey

Cover Artists: Michael Walsh & Tula Lotay

Editors: Will Dennis & Pornsak Pichetshote

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: October 23, 2024

 

Kyle is a college football star. He excels in his classes, and his girlfriend adores him. Then Allison hears Kyle speaking a foreign language while he sleeps. Another evening, Kyle’s roommate awakens him in the kitchen. How did Kyle become fluent in Arabic? And why is he devouring an entire cake in his sleep? Let’s slip on our sacred amulets, leap into The Sacred Damned #1, and find out!

 

Story

NFL scouts approach Kyle. His professors brag about him. But as he garners good grades and touchdowns, Kyle seeks medical help. Why can't the doctors prevent him from sleepwalking and dumpster diving for table scraps? Kyle’s horror grows when he awakens in the woods over a fresh kill. Then, he does something that will haunt him forever.

 

When Western medicine has no answers, a college professor introduces Kyle to Dr Inayah Jibril. Based on her knowledge of customs and the supernatural, Inayah believes a djinn inhabits Kyle.

As the Ethnography and Occult professor grabs the spotlight in The Sacred Damned #1, Kyle hopes she can rescue him. But is Inayah a hero, a villain, or (to coin a phrase) a bit of both? Inayah did her homework on Kyle and learned secrets few others know. She claims her interest in djinn is academic. Yet Inayah's childhood diary tells a different story.

 

While Inayah proves the central Human character in The Sacred Damned #1, the djinns also emerge as sympathetic figures. They predated Humans. Yet most Humans who believe in them shun them. Western civilization has banished ancient spirits to the realms of folklore. So, the djinns subsist like illegal aliens or Native American tribes not granted a reservation. Humans live far shorter lives than their predecessors. Yet the ever-growing human population has caused rising global temperatures, the extinction of plant and animal species, and the gradual eradication of the djinns’ forest homes.

 

Humans have ruined the djinn’s lives. So, a djinn ruined Kyle’s life. Yet the djinns have also ruined Inayah’s. She fought back by learning how to defeat them while the djinns plotted to overthrow Humanity. No one wins in Sabir Pirzada’s story. Unless, that is, you define winners as those who live to fight another day.

 

 

 

Art

While Allison's smile glows, Kyle looks haunted. An exploding football and a photo of burned hands on a phone precede Kyle's descent into gluttony. Five panels stretching horizontally across the page evoke Richard Bachman's (or, if you prefer, Stephen King's) novel Thinner in reverse. Another lineup of three panels shows sympathetic leaders seated beside an American flag. Dr Inayah Jibril wears a black shirt, army surplus pants, and black lace-up boots. The only person who smiles in the second half of The Sacred Damned #1 is someone Inayah loves.

 

Red and blue haunt an evening that should have brought joy. Reds, blues, greens, and yellows dominate Toni Marie Giffin & Michael Walsh’s art. The djinn’s presence often bleaches colors from Kyle's surroundings. An orange and yellow fire rages between Kyle and Inayah as blues, greens, and purples illuminate the heavily inked forest.

 

Giant colored letters haunt dark panels, while black uppercase letters embolden for intonation in white dialogue balloons. After black letters in yellow narrative boxes chart Kyle's downward spiral, a child's large handwritten pink letters link Inayah and Kyle’s childhoods. As wobbly white letters in black boxes convey the djinns’ complaints in The Sacred Damned #1, Becca Carey’s sound effects heighten a brutal clash between the factions competing for control of the planet Earth. Thanks to Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

When Humans stop believing in the supernatural, they stoke the flames of their desires regardless of how it burns the planet. With the usurpers despoiling their home, the supernatural refugees initiate guerrilla warfare in The Sacred Damned #1. Humanity's best hope for survival might be a woman who admires the “evil” spirits.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.