Comic Review: Kid Lobotomy

The birth of a new comic imprint can be a thrilling thing. In a field that tends towards stagnation, new imprints in the past like Vertigo and Helix have produced some of the most surprising cult hits in years. Based out of Los Angeles, Black Crown, a brand new imprint of publisher IDW, promises a line of new books from a variety of creators, exploring a myriad of subjects and introducing a host of new properties.

In Kid Lobotomy, the first title coming from Black Crown, we're introduced to a partnership of old hand and new talent. The pen is held by British writer Peter Milligan, whose notoriety in the comics business can't be overstated. The artwork is the blood and sweat of rising talent Tess Fowler, whose most recent work can be seen on covers across multiple major publishers. 

Milligan has a long reputation as a skillful craftsman of the grotesque and hilarious, from his genre-defining creation X-Statix to long tenures on Hellblazer, Shade the Changing Man and a plethora of others, he's known for pushing the envelope on the norm, and the boundaries of taste. He's on top form in the world of Kid Lobotomy.

It's the story of a young man, Kid, who after a series of twisted events finds himself manager of the city's strangest hotel. Tortured by a past shrouded in macabre music, madness and medical experimentation, Kid finds allies and enemies alike in the denizens of the building known as The Suites.

Part Overlook Hotel, part Mos Eisley Cantina, The Suites are home to a variety of strange and unusual lodgers. The biggest charm of Kid Lobotomy so far is in the very building Kid must discover. He explores the workings of The Suites and just what he's got himself into, and along the way the many inhabitants, not all apparently human and not all even apparently alive, go about their own unique business within the walls of the mysterious building.

The art is sharp and fitting the world we find ourselves ready to explore. Fowler's distinct talent for expressive faces gives equal attention to the cute, the sexy, and the macabre alike, and no two characters look the same. The halls of The Suites are both shadowy and dreamlike, with a wonderfully moody colour scheme that reminded me of The Neon Demon.

There's a world waiting to be discovered here, with Kid's family, staff, and the many lodgers making up the main cast, along with hordes of quirky background characters. There's so many distinct characters lurking in the first issue alone, I look forward to seeing who among them will be fleshed out, what will become of them, and what's really hidden in the shadows of The Suites.

Kid Lobotomy, in all it's twisted, funny, and grotesque glory, comes out on October 18th.