The Humans #1

There are some things that I'm a fan of simply because of the concepts behind them. Like The Humans for instance. Apes on motorcycles, in 1970. They wear clothes, they have a gang called The Humans and they kill each other like in old mob movies. The also have drunken parties and get blow jobs in parks...that last part is the non-conceptual part that I was kinda grossed out about.

Replacing humans with animals, or as in here apes, doing regular things draws attention to how actually idiotic and often repulsive human behavior is. When you see an ape dressed like a hippie getting a blow job from a female ape, it's kinda like wow, that's really gross. (Especially the drawn in spray...or is it suppose to be saliva?) There are lots of things but that particular picture made me want to hurl. Then I had to kinda erase it from my memory to get through the rest of the story.

The story is pretty simplistic and writer Keenan Marshall Keller doesn't try to hide the plot development for the next issue. He plainly tells you that The Humans will be getting a visit from a long thought-dead member. One of their fallen brothers.

As much as the story is well written as far as I'm concerned, it's Tom Neely that is really on display in this book. His artwork is pristine and Kristina Collantes' colors fit so perfectly. I really loved all the reds and the way she made Neely's artwork jump off the page. Sometimes it really just takes the right colorist. I'm pretty happy with this issue despite that one panel with the gross BJ. I hope there's less of that kind of action in the future. We'll see though.