American Terror – The Confession Of A Human Smart Bomb #1
Written and Created by Jeff McComsey
and James Cooper
Art by Jeff McComsey
Alterna Comics
Cover Price: $3

It is now the year 2041. There is cheap and renewable energy for everyone, open border policies for everyone, and nuclear disarmament. But one old man remembers a very different time, a time before the War Of The Third World. A violent and unstable time at the dawn of the twenty-first century. This old man, who sits watching the last years of life drift by in a coffee house remembers back to one of his missions in his youth. Dressed in civilian clothing, and armed to the teeth, this unnamed man storms a party with only two names on his mind, and with every intention of blowing them away.

From the eye-catching and button-pushing title, to the story by Jeff McComsey and James Cooper, the art by McComsey, and the right-out-of-the-gate speeding bullet pace, Alterna Comics may just have the best comic on their hands that they’ve published to date.

Issue one leads right off with very hopeful and idealist image of the near future, which at the same time is a slap in the face as we look around at our current world situations and the seemingly unsolvable problems that plague it. There is also a very clever name for a war mentioned here, The War Of The Third World. Though no other mention of what happened during this war, one can only fill in the blanks at the carnage, madness, and bloodshed that it took to get to a world where cops don’t carry guns and there are no more ghettos.

McComsey and Cooper start this fantastic debut issue as ambiguously as possible. Our protagonist is not given a name, nor is his present location given. As he flashes back to his solo assault raid, again no names or locations are given, no mission statements noted or even who our mysterious lead is working for and who he is fighting against. It is a frightening visage, as we are unsure who the enemy is, and whether the protagonist’s actions are just or criminal, and if we should even be routing for him. In a time where everyone is an enemy to someone else, and opposing countries and religions believe without a shadow of a doubt they are in the right, the lack of any names starts as confusion and leads to an eye-opening reflection of our modern times. Even the comic’s title leaves the reader open to debate as to whether American is being terrorized or if America is doing the terrorizing.

The art flows steadily through the first issue and at several times resembles storyboards for any possible film adaptation, as panels fade from past to present with mirror images and a varying degree of “camera” angles are used to keep the action lively. McComsey uses the panels as part of action as well, and one point literally slices a character into four pieces as the protagonist shreds through him with a machine gun. McComsey earns the book’s “mature readers” warning with his unflinching use of bloody violence. McComsey’s rendering of the unnamed protagonist is thoroughly thought through, giving him a jagged edge that shows that he has been through Hell and back, but a wisdom in his sunken eyes that glisten with a wisdom that can only be learned from what he has lived through.

Issue one ends with our young protagonist wandering out into the streets wounded and covered in blood. Where McComsey and Cooper plan on taking him next is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for certain, and that is that I’ll be counting the days until I get to find out.

Available at the Alterna Comic Shop.