REVIEW: 'Justice Warriors' #1 by Matt Bors, Ben Clarkson, and Felipe Sobreiro

 


JUSTICE WARRIORS #1 

Writer: Matt Bors

Artist: Ben Clarkson, Felipe Sobreiro

Publisher: Ahoy Comics

Release Date: June 8, 2022

Cover Price: $4.99

The first issue of a new dystopian satire, written and co-created by cartoonist, publisher, and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Matt Bors! Outside the walls of prosperous Bubble City, two tense cops patrol the Uninhabited Zone, a vast slum where most of the population lives, many of them mutants. After his partner is killed by a self-driving bus, traumatized veteran Swamp Cop must teach naive rookie Schitt that the UZ can only be policed by breaking every rule!

Score:

★★★★☆ (4/5)

When the real world is in such disarray both politically and culturally, satire is the perfect mirror to hold up to society to expose the absurdity of it all with an even more absurd depiction. Nowadays though, it takes a lot to overcome the bizarro version we live in but Ben Clarkson and Matt Bors do their very best to give us the outlandish satirical dystopian society just slightly more nuts than our own. And it is terrifyingly funny. 

Clarkson's Adult Swim background and the lauded political cartoonist Bors sharpen their knives and give us a smorgasbord of gags that cut right through the zeitgeist. Self-driving cars, baby formula shortages, product sponsorships, influencer culture, all get a scathing but funny swipe. Outside of the pristine crime-free literal bubble lies the Uninhabited Zone, a poverty-stricken land where most people live including mutants. 

When an inept amphibias cop loses his partner he has to mentor a rookie whose head is literally the poop emoji. It's that type of kookiness that anchors the outlandish antics that blends 'Police Squad' with 'Idiocracy' as directed by Michael Bay. Clarkson and Bors make a potent team of razor-sharp wit and eye-popping visuals. Enlivened by Felipe Sobreiro's bold colors, the cartoonish art is inventive, colorful, and whacked out. The perfect tone for this crazy story. 

There aren't many creators who could pull 'Justice Warriors' off. Bors and Clarkson seemed like natural arbiters of dytopian satire to be just bizarre and funny enough to outdo our current reality. 

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