Joe the Barbarian #1 - Vertigo

Hey . . this is something completely different, and it's by Grant Morrison. So . . I had to give it a shot. Plus . . it was only $1. How could I resist. This particular issue doesn't really tell us much though. It fills us in on some of the main character's background, but . . it's really just the very beginning of the story. It seems Joe Manson is this pretty normal kid. However, he recently lost his father in the war. He misses him, but . . he also blames him for everything he and his mother are going through. Anyways, he spends most of his time alone in his attic bedroom. Until one day, after nodding off, he wakes to find that his room has been transformed into some type of fantasy environment. And the inhabitants are all of the various toys and action figures he has strewn about his room. And really . . that's all we've got. We don't know the 'hows' or 'whys' or really what's going on . . yet. But it looks like this is the beginning of Joe's fantastic adventure. Sean Murphy provides the art, and . . it is perfect. By the way, on the Vertigo information page, there's an article by Sean where he talks about his inspirations for this series. If you get a chance, you should read it. It's interesting. Anyways, as with everything that Grant touches . . there's a ton of potential here. I have no idea which way Grant is going with this, but . . I'm sure it'll be more than interesting. Also, this is going to be done as an 8 issue mini-series. I thought this was an interesting issue. But . . the proof is in the pudding. We'll just have to see where it goes from here.