TITLE: 27 #1
AUTHOR: Charles Soule
ARTIST: Renzo Podesta. Cover by W. Scott Forbes.
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: December 8

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

I’m not exactly what you’d call a “music person.” I like music, and can usually distinguish a good song from a bad one. But I don’t have the passion for it like a lot of people do. So I’ve never actively looked for comics about music, or that feature characters that are musicians. Thus, 27 is a first impression for me in more ways than one.

The number 27 is significant because of the “27 Club,” a list of famous musicians who died at that age. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain are all in that dubious club. Though John Lennon wasn’t that age when he died, it’s probably not an accident this book came out on the anniversary of his death.

Our main character, Will Garland, is also 27. So the implication here is that he won’t make it to 28. For Will, that might be a bittersweet deal. Once a guitar player in a famous band, Will poured his heart and soul into his music. But after he develops a debilitating condition in his hand, he can no longer play. Thus, Will is a shell of his former self. Six months after the band’s last big show, Will seeks some unconventional help. He visits a mad scientist character who puts him in a kind of “converter” that seems to connect Will to a handful of cosmic entities. When he wakes up, the scientist is dead.

He finds that a metallic control panel has been grafted on to his chest. With the touch of a button, he experiences sudden bursts of creative genius. For instance, in this issue he plays the guitar again, but also spontaneously sculpts something. At the end of the issue, he meets some ghosts, who are apparently about to tell him what he’s gotten himself into.

Page 6. Image from imagecomics.com.

This book seems like it will have a really nice voice. Will’s bitterness and anger really come off the page. It’s relatable in a way that most books from Marvel and DC never are.

One of the intriguing elements here is that Will’s new creative powers aren’t confined to music. We’re not sure how they work yet, or if he has any control over them, but what exactly happens to a musician who is suddenly a great painter? What does that mean for this man’s future?

The art works really well. The color and inks give it a melan- choly feel that, at this point in the story, fits like a glove.

I also appreciated Will’s no-bullshit attitude. He has a pair of lines on the second page of this book that Justin Polak and I can both appreciate: “I don’t think of myself as a guitar hero. I’m not quite the sort of prick who would call himself something like that.” Take that gamers! How dare you have fun!!

At this early stage, I’m a fan of 27, and I’m surprised to see myself type that. I’m not much of a music guy, but I’m definitely a comic guy. So if you’re going to try and turn me on to music, I suppose there’s no better way than this.