The Best, and Worst Comic You'll Read This Week

Folks, W0rldTr33 is a RIDE

You Read These With Your Eyes! (April 26, 2023)

A quick feature about selling stories, featuring the week’s newest reads.

So we’re finally here.

W0rldTr33 was supposed to hit the stands a couple of weeks back. The creative team came out and discovered a deficiency in some of the covers being offered, so they pulled back until they could get better copies on the stands this week.

I’m here to tell you that this is one of the best comics I’ve ever read. I am also telling you that this is the worst I’ve ever felt while reading a comic.

ONGOING | w0rldtr33 #1 (Image Comics)

by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire & Aditya Bidikar

This book cut me in half. Not literally, but mentally? Folks. This book is something else. And honestly there doesn’t need to be much of a pre-amble to this one, so let’s get right into…

THE PITCH | This book isn’t for the feint of heart. Truly.

The idea at the core of this book is a synthesis of what Tynion has been putting out in the world lately. An incisive thing that works through some of the world’s demons, and produces a bit of horror that lives within your soul. This piece of work is unforgivable.

The events of the book take place in 2024. A dark part of the internet that was once though buried emerges again, and is causing full on violence. Said violence mirrors the real world with shocking accuracy but plies a fixed point of purpose.

This is a book that doesn’t pull its punches. It takes a look at the anger and violence that is bubbling in the world right now, and adds an accelerant to the flames. The scariest part comes from the fact that all of the events of the book really do feel like we’re a couple bad turns from experiencing. It chilled me to the bone.

W0rldtr33 is a warning. It is the consequence of a society hell bent on protecting structures of violence while ignoring all signs pointing to a need for compassion. We need structures to catch people when they fall. We need more resources spent on addressing mental health issues. We need support. Without it, we become… this. The world we have now, where folks are left to flounder until it starts effecting the bottom-lines of big companies, and not a moment before.

Because of the comic’s content, I am being somewhat delicate with my recommendations to people. The book is good. So good it stands a chance of wrecking a person or two, giving them anxiety rather than an escape. This is a book for folks who have the spoons to tackle some harsh realities. Being a fan of horror would be a bonus.

---

Alright folks - a quick one today, as split what was supposed to go up today. Turns out I have a lot to say about Tynion’s method behind selling this book, and last week’s Off Panel podcast with him has me adding a lot more. We’ll be talking about all of that this Friday.

Talk with you soon.

-B.