A comiXologist recommends:
We Can Never Go Home

by: Mike Isenberg

Big news!  Today we’ve launched upstart punk rock comic publisher Black Mask Studios on comiXology!  Lots of great books from them today, and more to come, but there’s one I want to single out that’s definitely worth your time.

Problem is, We Can Never Go Home, is a really difficult book to describe.  Is this a crime story?  An angsty teenage romantic comedy?  A superhero book?  A coming of age tale?  Any of these genre labels would fit the series, but none of them comfortably, which is part of what makes it such a fantastic read.

We Can Never Go Home is written by Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon, with art by Josh Hood and Tyler Boss.  The story takes place in 1989, and follows two teenagers—“cool girl” Madison and “weirdo creep” Duncan—as they get to know each other, run away from home, rob a local drug cartel, and accidentally commit the odd murder or two.

The series reads like some sort of mad love-child of TEOTFW and Runaways.  Madison gains super-human strength when she’s anxious, and Duncan claims to be able to kill with a thought, but the “Super Hero” aspect of the book is downplayed in favor of an “awkward teenagers trying to find their place in the world” story that is at times sweet, tense, violent, hilarious, and frightening.

Oh, and the art is gorgeous.  Josh Hood’s linework is stylish, expressive, and kinetic.  And Tyler Boss’s coloring mixes the gloom of late-80’s small-town America with intoxicating glimpses of optimism, bringing the whole thing to life.

Issues #1-4 all launched on comiXology today, and are highly recommended. Check this one out!

[Read We Can Never Go Home on comiXology]

Mike Isenberg is an Associate Production Coordinator at comiXology, co-writer of First Law Of Mad Science, and contributor to the New York Times bestselling FUBAR anthology series.  He lives in Harlem with his cats, Tesla and Edison.