Apocalyptic Fantasy Adventure (And Stabbyhorses) In Your First Look At ‘Coda’ #1

Welcome to the table,

I read very little during my comics dry spell. American Vampire was a must-have as was anything Cullen Bunn or Tyler Crook worked on. There were a few little things here and there but for the most part, my nearly 30 titles a week had dwindled down to a single issue every few months.

I was just… tired. Fandom had drained me, life had drained me and the comics discourse was so toxic. I could not get excited about a book with actual representation without being told I was “woke” or that it was pandering. It did not matter what it was someone had something to say and it seemed like the people in charge of “comics” the nebulous lords of the printed page were fairly quiet, at least from certain camps.

In what I like to think of as the gloomy times, there were a few titles that caught my attention on Amazon, of all things. Every few months one graphic novel would be served to me as “Things you might like” and the art preview or the cover was so striking that I was like… “Yeah… I need that sweet hit of retail therapy to get through this undiagnosed depression.”

I’m in a way better place right now, so when I tell you the Matías Bergara cover of Coda hit me in the same exact way, you know this thing checks all the right boxes for me.

 

This is… I don’t even know what the hell I am looking at…

It seems to be a space cowboy wizard on a demon horse fighting bug monsters in some alien hellscape while a weird rat goblin hides in the shadows. 

I want this injected directly into my brain. I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of joy I got from this cover. Look at it! It’s some glorious weird alien amalgamation of some D&D kid’s 3 AM ramblings after being awake for too long listening to Zeppelin, eating discarded pizza crust, and washing it all down with his fifth Pepsi in the last handful of hours.

I saw this thing and Immigrant Song started playing in my mind.

And that is only one of the covers!

 

Cover B is done by an artist of one of those books that called to me during the gloomy times, Nick Dragotta, who drew East of West one of the most unhinged weird, and fantastical stories I have ever had the joy of reading.

I would frame a print of this in my office in museum glass and get a light for it, I love this thing so much. I am just… I am so flabbergasted by how beautiful this is. The demon horse’s weird horns, the cowboy space wizard’s very chill but ominous vibe, the weird city in the background looks organic and mechanical at the same time, everything breaths with this otherworldly strangeness that makes me so excited.

 

AND THERE IS ANOTHER ONE!

 

The shape language and color in the Toni Infante variant sing of strange spaces between the stars and that use of halftones is nothing short of magical!!!

I show you all those glorious covers to tell you that BOOM! Studios today has revealed a first look at Coda #1, the premiere issue of the new five-issue original series from GLAAD Media Award-winning writer Simon Spurrier, Entertainment Weekly’s 2019 Artist of the Year Matías Bergara, color assistant Michael Doig, and letterer Jim Campbell, available in September 2023.

 

In this brand new adventure in the apocalyptic fantasy world of Coda, the despondent bard Hum finds a slice of tranquility with his wife, the Urken named Serka, in an ever-darkening, magic-less apocalypse – or so it seems. Prophecies of paradise and the return of magic? Hum is skeptical, while Serka faces difficult moral decisions on the road, with winter quickly approaching.

If you did not read the page above please go back and do so because you missed something called a Stabbyhorse and I can’t let you gloss over that.

 

The whole look of this book is nothing short of weird and beautiful and fun and strange. I have no idea what is going on. I mean, sure, I think there is a couple who is trying to live the best life they can in a world that is out of time, that seems to be the trust of it all. There is also a Stabbyhorse who has a foul temper, and legit you could just tell me that single fact and I’m here with money asking for more.

 

This is why I love comics. The artistry, the storytelling, the ability to make something that is totally unique and could only be captured on the pages of a funny book. I was all in with the covers, the preview pages of Coda just make me even more excited for whatever this story is going to be.

That is an armored crab mount wandering across blue sand under a violet sky.

Coda#1 will be available in comic shops on September 13, 2023. It is available for pre-order at your local comic shop currently. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Kindle.

You can be like me and catch up on the series by picking up the Coda Deluxe Edition Hardcover, available wherever books are sold… including Amazon where I ordered it when I saw the cover for this book and stopped writing halfway through “Welcome to the table” when I realized I could just go order the Deluxe Edition Hardcover and it would show up tomorrow.

More to come on Coda soon!

Until next time, I love weird comics!