REVIEW: 'Nice Jewish Boys' #1 by Neil Kleid, John Broglia, and Ellie Wright

 

NICE JEWISH BOYS #1

Writer: Neil Kleid

Artist: John Broglia, Ellie Wright

Letterer: 

Publisher: ComiXology Originals

Release Date: November 8, 2023

Cover Price: $2.99

Struggling to pay his bills during a period of unemployment, family man Jake Levin is drawn into a triangle of suburban secrets after moonlighting for his best friend—a caterer-turned-criminal wanted by the FBI thanks to their other pal, a failed entrepreneur turned informant. When three nice Jewish boys grow up to stab each other in the back, which of them will be left standing to say the mourner’s kaddish?

Score:

★★★★☆ (4/5)

QUICK REVIEW: The solicitation says it all but 'Nice Jewish Boys' by Neil Kleid, John Broglia, and Ellie Wright is an absorbing suburban crime drama. Struggling writer Jake begins working for his best friend and unwittingly becomes embroiled in his organized crime empire while discovering his other friend is working with the feds to take him down. Jake is caught in the middle and is already implicated in a murder but with family to think about what will he do? Kleid brings to life his Jewish upbringing and traditions through the story of these "nice Jewish boys" as the first-person narration calls to mind the opening of 'Goodfellas' with Jake describing his neighborhood and friends. The reader is instantly sucked into this world and the Jewish culture is as idiosyncratic as Italians in that same film. Broglia and Wright constructed a unique suburban landscape that feels lived-in and accurate. The colors lean more warm and dark allowing for a somewhat noir aesthetic. A lot happens in the first issue setting up the complicated premise but it's riveting all the same. It feels like an episode of 'Breaking Bad' when the writers would seemingly write themselves into a corner, placing the protagonist in an impossible situation, and leaving audiences to wonder how he would get out alive. Kleid has put Jake in a corner and I can't wait to see how he gets out of it. 'Nice Jewish Boys' is a captivating read that should leave readers hooked.