Spontaneous #1

Written by Joe Harris
Art by Brett Weldele

I think Oni has a winning formula for dealing with Free Comic Book Day.  Instead of giving out short anthologies, or previewing upcoming books, they give the entire first issue of a new series.  It worked last year with Sixth Gun (which is an excellent series), and has now definitely gotten me interested in reading the rest of Spontaneous.

Although, to be honest, I would have bought this if it weren't free.  Spontaneous is written by Joe Harris, who impressed me with Ghost Projekt, and is drawn by Brett Weldele, an impressive artist whose last work, The Light, put him into my must-buy category.

Spontaneous is about a young man who has a system for tracking down people who are going to spontaneously combust.  He attempts to interview a man in a mall foodcourt before he goes up in flames, a case which draws the attention of a plucky young wanna-be journalist.  Together, they start working the guy's system to find the next potential victim.

Harris hints that there may be something about SHC that makes it not so spontaneous, although at this early stage of the series, we have no clue what that might be.  Weldele uses the same digital colouring techniques he used in The Light to add an unearthly quality to the pages, and to use light to draw the reader's eyes into his scenes.  He's grown a lot as an artist in the last few years.

As with Sixth Gun, this first issue is being offered for purchase alongside the second issue of the series in the latest Previews, if you're interested in reading it but missed your chance at picking it up for free.  It's worth ordering.