The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #1

The weird mixture of horror, science fiction, and coming-of-age drama somehow works together beautifully. The horror elements are genuinely scary, the science fiction elements are interesting and thought-provoking, and the coming-of-age drama is touching and relatable. Read Full Review

The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #1 is like listening to a jam band just starting to find their groove. All the songs and musical ideas bleed into each other and you have no idea what you are listening to or what is coming next. You come away from the whole thing with a smile, enjoying the experience and looking forward to the next time that group of artists gets together so you can see what they cook up. This book feels exactly like that, if you could condense it, add some rad colors, and get it to adhere to the pages of a comic book. Read Full Review

The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #1 sets up an interesting new character and the book is a good blend of science-fiction, horror and superhero books. Recommended. Read Full Review

With a brilliant and experienced world-building creator like James Tynion IV and a talented writer like Tate Brombal there is no doubt that the many mysteries and cliff hangers revealed in this debut issue will slowly unravel, drawing the reader deeper and deeper into the monstrous world of Christopher Chaos, grounded in the deliciously colorful and expressive art from Isaac Goodhart and Miquel Muerto. Read Full Review

An excellent first issue helps a familiar story feel fresh Read Full Review

The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #1 stands tall as an engaging opening to a story rife with whimsy and charm. It contains enough narrative richness within its moments of open table setting to act as both an excellent standalone tale, as well as the first chapter in an expectedly great series. Read Full Review

The first issue actually does a really good job of introducing Christopher, which is all thats really called for in a simple dramatic series. Christopher Chaos makes a firm impact in his first appearance on the comics page. Now that hes done so, its time to start lowering in the deeper conflicts that will come to define him in the issues to come. Read Full Review

Whether readers are looking at an unreliable narrator, metaphor, or another answer altogether, it's not clear in The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #1. Where that might encourage one to keep reading in the moment, especially given the charming artwork, that patience may expire in the course of a month. Read Full Review

The opening for this story is pretty familiar but it's executed in a solid way with some artwork that I'm really enjoying and a color design that catches the eye. Brombal's script is pretty exposition-heavy but it's designed around our lead telling us, through the pigeon, all the important things to establish what's going on here and where it intends to go. It does it well and it's a good read but it's not something you just lightly pick up and flip through but rather sit and sort through, especially in combination with the artwork. I'm curious to see where it'll go as it teases some bigger things toward the end and it really needs to capitalize on that. Read Full Review

derbycomics

Jun 29, 2023

Previewed by James Tynion IV via his Substack back in February 2022 and initially running as a digital comic via that same platform, THE ODDLY PEDESTRIAN LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CHAOS #1 finally hit shelves this week from Dark Horse Comics after months of anticipation. The excitement (and advanced orders) grew so much that the publisher announced a 2nd printing of the first issue and an upgrade from limited series to ongoing series before the series even debuted. That's a lot of faith to put into a new series and a big ask for the first issue to deliver the goods. And deliver it did! The first issue is a collaboration between Tynion, writer Tate Brombal, artist Isaac Goodhart, colorist Miquel Muerto, and letterer Aditya Bidikar. It's a maste rful combination of queer love, sci-fi horror, and young adult angst all wrapped up in beautiful illustrations that come to life on every page. It's hard for me to choose just which part of this comic book was my favorite, so please bear with me as I fanboy for a bit... The combination of Goodhart, Muerto, and Bidikar is a stroke of genius. Everything works from a visual perspective from start to finish. The team has crafted a brilliant approach to make Christoper Chaos' design unique and contrasting to everyone and everything else around him and every detail aids in building a world where Christopher feels like an "other" compared to the world around him. Muerto's colors especially standout in several panels with bright palettes of yellows, blues, pinks and reds being used for emphasis to great effect. While the art could stand on it's own, it is combined with one of the most poignant and evocative writing displays of 2023. Brombal's story cuts deep and you are immediately pulled into the mindset of a teenager who feels alone, scared, and unsure of who he is - something we can all likely relate to in some capacity. While Christopher has many things that set him apart, including being queer, the driving force of the narrative is his desire to hide special abilities that he's had for birth. The metaphor between living a reclusive life with hidden secretes due to these powers and being a queer person in a heteronormative world is obvious, though it's done in a subtle and respectful way. Brombal forces you to feel the weight of what Christopher is dealing with throughout the issue. For a character who feels like he is so different, the only thing odd about Christopher is just how relatable he is to anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong. Having queer characters deal with issues beyond their queerness isn't anything new to comics, yet the world that the creative team is building feels entirely new. After reading this issue, it's clear why Dark Horse felt confident investing in this series for the long haul. Everyone involved has crafted a story that is set up to explore countless possibilities while providing a truly human look at what it means to be different. Rating: 10/10 more

Jawsh

Jun 28, 2023

Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Moolissuh

Dec 12, 2023

You're laughing. He just watched his crush get murdered and you're laughing?

ComicWorm

Jun 30, 2023

7.5