In a harsh and blasted land, a man must do what he can to survive and make sense of the things he sees, even if they aren’t always there. Your Major Spoilers review of Wag #1, awaits!

WAG #1

Writer: Scott Hoffman
Artist: Juan Bobillo
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editors: Greg Lockhard and Will Dennis
Publisher: Comixology Originals
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: September 6th, 2023

Previously in Wag: The world has been changed forever. One day the air changed and all the connections that kept society together were severed and the rest of it all followed soon after. All that’s left is the bones for the survivors to pick through.

INTO THE FIRE

Wag #1 opens with a man going about his day, trying to find some water and food. He manages to catch a chipmunk and begins cooking it. He’s then attacked by three people wearing old school scuba diver equipment. He fights with the trio and manages to kill two of them. Before he puts the final blow onto the last, they reveal themselves to be a young woman who claims to have been forced into the gang. The man shows mercy, only to discover that his shelter has caught fire in the scrap. The woman agrees to go into the fire to retrieve his stuff. She gets what she can and escapes the fire. Outside the man is fixed on the fire and begins to see images of a large bird emerging from the fire, speaking to him. He snaps out of it and helps his new friend with a burn. She introduces herself as Lin and he says his name is Wag. It’s revealed that there were some pills that Lin didn’t get out of the fire. She says there’s a place that might have some supplies. Along the way they find an old pharmacy and the two go in to scavenge it, without knowing what is inside, before continuing on to their destination.

A COUPLE INTERESTING WRINKLES, BUT MOSTLY BASIC

Wag #1 definitely comes off as a title that has something to say that goes deeper than another post-apocalyptic walking tour. An emphasis on how modern communication in particular was severed when things went wrong, coupled with a recurring image of a very familiar blue bird, gives the impression that there’s some sort of commentary about social media and digital communication happening here. That’s the interesting bit, after that, it’s another post-apocalyptic walking tour. Wag’s mental state could have also been an interesting element here, but so little was done with it that it felt like it was only brought up here in order to give him and Lin a reason to start their walk. There are just too many tropes at play here. For example, the duo is a large man and a small-statured woman who is possibly a child, he claims to just want to be left alone but is also capable of extreme levels of violence, most of the people they encounter are deranged in some sort of way, and the first piece of civilization they find is a shanty town built in the husk of a forgotten city. You mix and match those things up in different combinations and you have nearly all post-apocalyptic stories in the last 15 years. That all being said, some of that hidden depth that was suggested throughout the issue does generate a little bit of promise that this series may go on to separate itself from the pack in the long run.

BRUTAL WITHOUT BEING GRUESOME

It’s always nice when a comic allows for the artists’ styles to shine through and that is something that Wag #1 has going for it. While I won’t say that the art here is going to blow anyone away, it fits the story and has personality. The human shape is distorted here in interesting ways and the violence has a brutality to it, but it doesn’t linger on it. It toes that line between being gratuitous and helping shape the world, nicely.

BOTTOM LINE: IN NEED OF A BIT MORE PIZAZZ

Wag #1 hints at some more going on here than what meets the eye. Unfortunately, those glimpses are crowded out by some pretty basic genre elements that make the whole thing feel just too much like a lot of other things that have come before it. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

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WAG #1

47%

47%

Run of the Mill

Wag #1 may go on to be a standout entry in the post-apocalyptic genre, but it will have to overcome a pretty underwhelming introduction.

• Writing

  3
• Art

  5
• Coloring

  6
• User Ratings (1 Votes)
  9.2