- Writer: Dan Watters
- Artist / Colorist Caspar Wijngaard
- Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
- Designer: Tom Muller
Thanks to Image Comics for the review copy!
Going in, I thought HOME SICK PILOTS might be about some members of our military longing from home during a foreign assignment. I could not have been more wrong. Set in 1994, this series is about a punk band named… Home Sick Pilots, who due to a rivalry with another band (the Nuclear Bastards), get involved in a haunted house. While haunted house stories have been told for eons, the setting and characters in HOME SICK PILOTS add a fresh twist to the genre.
The band has three members, and while each is given a unique character design, only Ami is fleshed out so far. The Nuclear Bastards have four members, but really only two resonate as being individual characters. That’s ok, as the story mostly is set around establishing the haunted house. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if the series explains the ‘rules’ of the house and/or its origin.
I think HOME SICK PILOTS will appeal to fans of the series PAPER GIRLS. The art and coloring remind me of that series as does the retro setting. What remains to be seen is if the series will develop the relationships of its main characters as well as that series. This issue features some violence and a fair amount of cursing, so some parental discretion is advised. I also think older readers will appreciate the 1990s setting more. Home Sick Pilots is worth a look as long as you don’t go in expecting a story about World War Two pilots writing letters back home.
HOME SICK PILOTS #1 is set for release on December 9th.
Check back in a few weeks for my thoughts on the second issue of the series.
Are you going to pick up the issue? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
