Novelist and comics writer Alisa Kwitney, and artist Mauricet, have teamed up to take on the chaos of the Greenwich Village crowd amidst an existential threat. Described by Ahoy Comics as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this five-issue limited series confronts the myths and legends around the “perfect” world of the 1950s in the United States, complete with Sci-Fi mixed in. Issue #1 comes to stores today, January 15th.
Here’s the synopsis:
In most of late 1950s America, Senator McCarthy is hunting down communists and teenagers are making out at the drive-in while B-movies warn about flying saucers and alien invasions — but in the bohemian Greenwich Village, it’s a different story. It is there, amongst the turtlenecked, sandal-wearing, reefer-smoking free-thinkers, intellectuals and artists, that we find the members of Scylla, a boys’ club of brilliant science fiction writers and editors. Yet even as these futurists sip their cocktails and spin tales of life on other planets, they do not suspect that the real aliens are already here among us, planting the seeds — or rather, the spores — of their empire.
Aliens are the last thing on 23-year-old beatnik and proto-feminist Ziva Rodblatt’s mind — she’s too busy trying to keep her mother from discovering that she is living out of wedlock with her boyfriend. But when said boyfriend falls under the sway of celebrity therapist Myrtle Morel, she begins to grow suspicious. Why is Bert sneaking out before dawn to meet with strangers? Why does he have a sudden taste for cream of mushroom soup? And Ziva is not the only one who believes that she is living with someone who looks familiar, but is unmistakably and disturbingly different. All of a sudden, there seem to be a lot of writers, artists and musicians falling under Myrtle’s spell. But what can one feisty college-drop-out do to fend off the alien invasion?
Issue #1 of Howl follows Ziva, trying to explore the world of the bohemians, while still trying to keep her mom from getting on her case about living with her boyfriend out of wedlock. Readers see the subtle, and not so subtle, way the women in this story are jostled into accepting the bare minimum (if that) from their respective partners. The artwork is crisp and clean but still has a classic feel. While we are just skimming the service of the world in the first issue, it becomes pretty clear in Howl that the aliens are among us, and they might be more familiar than expected.
Howl #1 is available today from Ahoy Comics.
