Acclaimed writer Cullen Bunn takes you into the world of business, drugs, and family with a dash of the mystic in his latest series. In New Orleans, people struggle to be more than they are. When you have the product that lets them do it, expect complications. Let’s find out more in Bone Parish #1 from Boom Studios.

Bone Parish #1

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Illustrated: Jonas Scharf
Colorist: Alex Guimaraes
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Cover Art: Lee Garbett
Variant Covers: Rod Reis & Tyler Crook
Publisher: Boom Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 25, 2018

Previously in BONE PARISH: A new drug is hitting the streets, bigger than anything before it. With it you can be anything you want, if only for a little while. While New Orleans is a dangerous place to live, it may be even more dangerous to die. For one family, the drug business is their lively hood, but can a business based on death ever really be a way of life?

THE FIRST HIT IS NEVER REALLY FREE

A man walks the streets, living two lives. In one, he is the rock star performing before a stadium full of screaming fans, in the other, he is an average joe trippin’ on the street. Guess which is real. He’s just experienced The Ash, a drug that causes you to see, fear, feel, experience whatever is your heart’s desire. Watching the scene unfold from the sidelines, Dante is the man who can hook you up. He’s got the line to the supply of the hottest drug out there, and it’s what everyone wants. Across town, the supplier of Ash, Brae, is directing his crew as they fulfill a drug recipe shopping list of the grizzliest nature. The drug is popular making the demand, and risk, high. His mother and leader of the family enterprise, Grace, is speaking with her husband Andre as they prepare to meet with an out of town faction interested in their product. But the meeting takes an unexpected turn, and it looks like there may be more complications in the future, and echoes of the past make for dark tidings on the horizon.

IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR

Creator Cullen Bunn (The Sixth Gun, Harrow County) is one of the hardest working men in comics. He often has multiple series hitting the shelves at once and it is amazing that he can keep up the quality he has become known for. Bone Parish is no exception. Set in a New Orleans, Louisiana, or a city based off of it, Bunn’s latest story involves a crime family selling a most unique drug. He seamlessly introduced characters and slides from one scene to the next with such little effort that you are pulled into the story completely. This is no info dump of information, this is a structured story unfolding at an elegant pace, like a jazz tune echoing from a Bourbon Street nightclub, it starts off subtly, and then unveils a layer you weren’t expecting. Bunn is known as a stupendous storyteller, and Bone Parish looks to add to that reputation.

Jonas Scharf (Warlords of Appalachia, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) is an excellent paring to Bunn’s words. The first sequence, where he invokes the spirit of the Lizard King himself during the initial drug trip, is masterful, switching between the real world and the imagined.  His panels unfold at a pace that neither rushes you nor spoils the story, and the revelations have a weight and surprise. It looks and feels like New Orleans, you see it as soon as you begin the story. Additionally, there are no stock characters here.  Everyone has a distinctive look, and you can keep up with who is who with little effort.  Add the colors of Alex Guimaraes (Kong on the Planet of the Apes, Adventure Time) and the book gathers a distinctive look that echoes the dark, foreboding story that is unfolding.

BOTTOM LINE: DARK, INTRIGUING, AND POSSIBLY ADDICTIVE

If you like a little noir with your mysticism, Bone Parish #1 with not disappoint. Bunn and company lead you into a world of drugs and family, with a major twist. This first issue takes a well-used story and turns it on its head, delivering genuine surprises and drama. The story of the Winters family has the potential to be a major league tale.

[taq_review]

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