Home Sick Pilots: What Happens When The Underdog Story We All Know Is Consumed By The Supernatural?

A Review of Home Sick Pilots #1

There are some mild spoilers toward the end of this review

Home Sick Pilots. I’ve seen it everywhere, but don’t actually know a dang thing about it! Let me tell you, I’m actually glad I knew nothing about this going into it- I was able to go in with a completely open mind, and, wow, was it worth it. Thanks to @PKMNTiana, @joelovescomics, and the many others I forgot to write down who recommended it!

The biggest thing I liked about this issue was the nostalgia of youth I felt racing through my veins with each turn of every page. I mean- I’m 25, but this made me feel like I was 15 again. And not only in the acne-ridden, emotionally broken way, but also in the “we do what we want and we won’t let any adults, especially not cops, get in our f*cking way” way. It’s the illusion of freedom to the greatest extent. It’s the John Cusack’s ‘80s movies vibes, but with more than just white people thankfully. I felt for the Home Sick Pilots emotionally, but more than anything, it was nice to feel like the underdog saying f*ck off to the people that don’t deserve the praise they get. Queue the Home Sick Pilots trashing their rival band, the Nuclear Bastards!

I mean, come on, I’m LIVING for the Nuclear Bastards being exactly that-nuclear bastards!

The bitter humor in this was hella fun to read. Honestly, it reminded me of ‘80s John Cusack mixed with What We Do In The Shadows. We love having a rival band that we want to f*ck off! I also really enjoyed Rip and Buzz’s banter.

Now, as I was reading this, I was concerned how the plot would weave into this- How do you not overuse the “everyone thinks I’m a freak” trope? Wouldn’t adding supernatural aspects make this worse? Surprisingly, it didn’t. I actually really felt for Amira in particular as an outsider, as someone who lost her mom for unknown (but widely and horribly speculated reasons) and is now a foster child. I felt for her when she said she knew she was being dramatic, but couldn’t stop it. I felt her when she said, “Can you imagine being stripped of all the things that make you a you?”. Again, it was a nostalgic kind of pain, but also a pain I feel today in my 20’s. Maybe it’s a pain we always have but we don’t always embrace. As you can see, this really had me sitting in my feelings. Whew. Feelings. Those gosh darn things. There are so many feelings in this, but if you only focus on the humor and supernatural elements, you’ll miss them. I really appreciated how Dan Watters weaved the feelings Amira has into how and why she gets involved with the supernatural here.

That said, the Supernatural Elements in this, while they take a while to -truly- kick in, once they do, holy sh*t! The coloring REALLY works some magic here. I mean, first of all, you have a page like this (above), with amazing action direction and dialogue, to really get your heart pumping again after all that emotional narrative. Then, to top it all off, you get some of the classic ‘80s horror vibes in, with arguments and tensions rising up between everyone- until someone’s head pops off! How crazy is that?? Like, wow, there are times where you can really tell the writer’s script and the artist’s art were planned in absolute synchronization, and that shows here. Absolutely magnificent.

Overall Consensus:

I truly felt like I was watching a movie while reading this comic. It wasn’t something that was hard to read mentally, but it carried enough emotional weight to it that it kept me invested. It was definitely worth the first issue and something I’ll keep reading!

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