REVIEW: 'Good Luck' #1 by Matthew Erman and Stefano Simeone

Matthew Erman (Witchblood) and Stefano Simeone (Mega Man: Fully Charged) present a wild and mind-bending sci-fi adventure about a world where good and bad luck rule. It's a frantic fun piece of action that readers will devour. 

GOOD LUCK #1

Writer: Matthew Erman

Artist: Stefano Simeone

Letterer: Mike Fiorentino

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Release Date: June 23, 2021

Cover Price: $3.99

What if Luck was quantifiable, and something everyone was born with?

Everyone, except the Unfortunates - teenagers born with absolutely zero luck. Now with the world mysteriously plunged into chaos and reality itself threatened, they will be our only hope to save the world.

Our last hope is those with no chance of success... the only thing anyone can wish them is Good Luck.

A bold new original series for fans of Seven Secrets and Runaways from Matthew Erman (Long Lost, Power Rangers: Sins of the Future) and Stefano Simeone (Mega Man: Fully Charged) about defying fate against impossible odds.

Score: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

We don't normally get an opportunity to review comics from Boom! Studios but through the generosity of writer Matthew Erman he's provided us a copy for his latest with artist Stefano Simeone, Good Luck. It's an ambitious sci-fi series based on a unique premise where good and bad luck has manifested themselves like celestial gods from the heavens making luck not only quantifiable like gravity but has altered the fortunes of humanity forever. Only a ragtag group of government-trained teenagers born with bad luck hope to reverse the fate of the world that has reigned for thirty years. 

Like any sprawling story with multiple characters and its own deep mythology, it takes a lot of world-building in a short amount of time to set the stage for what readers are in for. You want to present this imaginative world with as much information for readers as possible in order for them to fully grasp what's at stake and what your characters' motivations are. Erman kind of bombards you with these details not only in narration but with the dialogue. With a high concept like this, it actually helps reiterate the situation the world is in and why these teens have been chosen for this mission. It doesn't mean it all makes complete sense but it's fun nonetheless. 

We're first introduced to Artemis Barlow, one of the crew members of the 'Unfortunates,' who was born with bad luck and has a surprisingly optimistic outlook anyway. While his team members have become visibly cynical and jaded after seven years of trying to beat the simulator they train in, Artie stays chipper and stress-free. He's the perfect counter-balance to the heaviness of this mission that literally could kill them all. They'll have to enter the Kismet Zone where the gods of Luck reside in the epicenter of Little Kentucky, Ohio of all places. The folks there have had to suffer under a paradox of perpetual suffering. It's not exactly clear what kind of suffering but it's assumed anything that can go wrong probably does there. 

Because so much is going on and so many things need to be explained there's a quick pace to the first issue. Imagine Aaron Sorkin on a sugar rush and you might understand how fast things are moving. Luckily, artist Stefano Simeone is up to the task of illustrating the speed of everything with colorful eye-popping designs and clever panel transitions that mimic movement throughout the story. Simeone's style is bright, surreal, and animated. You're going to spend a lot of time on the page with all the dialogue but you'll linger on the art even longer to really appreciate it. 

'Good Luck' #1 comes at you with a torrent of world-building that feels fast-paced and dense. A uniquely imagined world where good and bad luck are real tangible things and threaten reality unless a band of luckless teens can save the day. Issue one comes at you fast but has enough of a foundation to cling to and expect the storytelling to level out without so much telling and more showing. It's definitely a title to watch with great potential.