P/Review: High Heaven #1

I think every reviewer has a high-spirited streak inside, where they want something to fail just because there’s a great headline for it.  I remember when the Green Lantern movie was coming out, and there was a negative buzz preceding it, we came up with a list of reviewer headlines like “Oa No! Lights out for Green Lantern!” Looking back, it was pretty mean-spirited.

But thankfully, AHOY Comics’ High Heaven is so good there’s no need for a cheesy headline. If you really want one or need one, just cut and “OMG! High Heaven’s Divine!” or “TGIHH: Thank God its High Heaven” and put it at the top of this review.  This comic, the second venture from Ahoy Comics, is subversively, wicked fun. High Heaven is fresh, witty and couldn’t be more different from the first AHOY title, The Wrong Earth.

Writer Tom Peyer and artist Greg Scott introduce us to a jerk named Weathers who suddenly dies and finds himself in the afterlife. Navigating it isn’t easy, and is especially difficult for a whiner like Weathers.  The concept of Heaven is a well-traveled fictional road, but somehow Peyer creates a new take on it that leaves you eager to learn more.

Greg Scott keeps his foot on the gas with his gritty edged renderings. I liked his style in Archie’s recent Black Hood series, and it works surprisingly well here too.

And just like The Wrong Earth, AHOY has stuffed this issue with a plethora of  diverse extra material. The back-up adventure is called Hashtag: Danger and is a humorous romp in that classic Challengers of the Unknown style.  I’m not sure if the reason it works so well is because of the dinosaurs, the sly digs at social media, the unglamorizing of start-ups, or the wry commentary on reality show celebrities.   A prose story by Grant Morrison, a Shannon Wheeler gag panel, a hilarious letters page and a clever editorial leave the reader with that  “Wow! What a bargain!” feeling.

Heaven Can’t Wait! I’m impatient for issue #2. Ooops- that pun just slipped out. Sorry!