It’s an almost all-exposition issue, with Carolyn revealing a bit about her backstory—and apparently enough about the state of the world to her new companion, protagonist Mike (told you his name wasn’t exciting enough for the suspense)—but then Mike doing an exposition dump, Carolyn interrupting him because it sounds too much like an exposition dump, then Mike continuing the dump only with accompanying art instead of it just being dialogue.

It’s not a great move from creator Steve Skroce, who seems to not want to have to put a lot of effort into the art. After the first five or six pages, when Carolyn and Mike end up at the house of her old pals and caregivers, the art starts getting a little… bland. Still incredibly competent, but without Skroce’s usual enthusiasm.

Understandable since there’d nothing to get enthusiastic about in the issue. The humor seems forced and the new characters are incredibly flat. And given I’d just been saying the comic doesn’t rely on direct nods, the issue opens with an ED-209 reference from Robocop. It seems vaguely desperate.

There’s barely any action—the most excitement comes in the cliffhanger, which refers directly to something earlier in the comic because Skroce’s in a hurry. Instead of an action set piece, there’s a lot of talking on that set, then the surprise and cliffhanger.

Post Americana, even with rushed art, is a solid book. Skorce better end up having some real ideas though, as everything with Carolyn’s adoptive family kind of flops. They’re adorable old guys, got it, but there’s nothing else to them.

We also get the history of the new President of the United States as part of the longest exposition dump and it’s potentially compelling (twists abound)… but it’s all telling instead of showing, which makes sense with rushed art, I guess.

Post Americana is currently a six issue series, so it’s half done; hopefully Skroce’s got whatever he needed to get out of his system expelled here.

We do get to find out the protagonist’s name—the male protagonist—at the end of the issue but I shan’t spoil it for now. It’s in the top five of most common names but still.

This issue beings with a resolution to the outstanding members of the Rebel Alliance and therefore traitors from last issue, who helped the male hero escape the dome into the wilds. And another speech from the Reagan-Bro president. With the added context the dome dwellers are basically just the sociopath blue bloods and their intellectually wanting relations, it’s more comic book villain but still scary. Especially since they’re planning on killing all the survivors they left behind on the surface to take over.

On said surface, our male protagonist wakes to find himself waiting to be thunderdomed by the cannibals. The woman who saved him—Carolyn—is there too, with some surprises of her own. At that point it becomes an action issue, an often icky, cannibal-eating-human action issue (complete with a megalomaniac, but thoughtfully so, big bad leader for them to confront).

Creator Steve Skroce’s take on post-apocalyptic wasteland is solidly novel; it doesn’t do a bunch of references, but it also doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Because once the action starts, it’s all about the art. I mean, there’s a lot of humor in the writing—including a little bit more humanity than I was expecting—but the art’s just phenomenal. Nothing like panel-gazing at Skroce’s glorious detail of cannibal carnage. Actually, he seems to be toning it down in some cases—I was dreading the detail on what appears to be a skin-mask, but it never got too gross.

The leads are good enough too; they’re amusing and have enough personality to carry their scenes.

Post Americana is shaping up nicely.

Post Americana takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, in what used to be the United States, some generations after the bombs went off. The comic opens with the terrifying sight of a buff Reagan-type President giving a speech as two rebels try to escape in a stolen jet amid explosions. It’s a lot of action, a lot of characters—we know there’s something wrong with the future before the rebels set off their explosives (from the President’s speech plus some visual indicators). Creator Steve Skroce does a fantastic job on the intro, but it’s nothing compared to what’s next.

What’s next is the wasteland, with a reluctantly reformed cannibal trying to flirt with the new mercenary in town, Carolyn. Carolyn’s going to be important, even though she doesn’t say a lot on her introduction. It’s more about establishing the setting and the important supporting cast members for the issue. There’s the cannibal (Rudy, who’s hilarious) and the big boss, The Flying Fuck. He flies around in armor stuff, which is important later but without any warning. F.F. doesn’t trust Rudy around Carolyn (probably because he’s going to eat her) and eventually they go to investigate the shuttle from the opening crashing.

We get a wild crash sequence, with Skroce going for absurd and gory in just the right combination, then we get the two story threads coming together and a big twist for the finish. Even after the big twist, Skroce makes time for another big action sequence and it’s outstanding. Such a good sense of detail and movement in Skroce’s art. It looks so good.

There’s a big cliffhanger and the promise of a great resolution—turns out Carolyn’s the best at what she does, which includes coming up with funny nicknames for her new sidekick (one of the escapees). So it seems there will be lots of great Skroce action.

Post Americana’s off to a super start.