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Superstar writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson has a new creator-owned series coming in September from Image, and what looks like one of the most interesting launches of 2024. The Moon Is Following Us is a cryptically-titled 10-issue collaboration with artist Riley Rossmo and colorist Mike Spicer. We've read the first issue and it's quite the departure from the comic Johnson is currently best known for – Skybound's action-packed Transformers, which picked up the Eisner Award for both Best Continuing Series and Best Writer/Artist at San Diego Comic Con last week.
As the new series is still a few months out we can't get into spoilers yet – which is a shame, as this is a first issue that waits until its final few pages before really playing its hand – but we can share our initial impressions of what seems to be a very interesting new fantasy comic…
The Moon is Following Us #1 throws us in at the deep end by introducing us to three characters – a man, a woman, and some sort of anthropomorphic frog thing wearing a crown – planning a raid on a fortress. We quickly learn that this is a rescue mission: the two humans (Duncan and Samantha) are a married couple and they are trying to save their daughter from a mysterious foes known as the Cascade. Mr Frog is called Brio, incidentally.
The book wears its D&D influences on its sleeve right from the off. This is a colorful tale full of sinister castles, winding mountainous paths, sinister traders, and very nasty monsters. It immediately subverts these fantasy tropes, however, by making it clear that Duncan and Samantha are from… elsewhere. While their enemies have swords and axes, the humans wield machine guns and rocket launchers. A brief flashback to their daughter also throws into question the precise nature of this reality.
Rest assured that you do get some answers by the end of the first issue, but in a manner that poses more questions for the series to unravel. There's certainly a lot more going on here than just a simple quest narrative.
Johnson's script is as on point as you'd expect from a creator whose name has pretty much become a seal of quality over the last few years. The storytelling is concise, the dialogue witty without being smug. Rossmo's art is also a good fit – cartoony, while remaining detailed and full of character. Spicer, meanwhile, colors everything in bold shades of purple, pink, and green. It's vibrant and punchy, while still maintaining an ominous vibe of seemingly permanent night.
The Moon is Following Us is off to a solid start. Its initial fantasy adventure tone is very likeable, but it's with the last few pages and the slide into a slightly different genre that the book becomes properly gripping and makes me eager for #2. Come for the art and Johnson's script, but stay for an intriguing, unsettling mystery.
The Moon Is Following Us #1 is published by Image Comics on September 18.
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