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• Price: $3.99
• Rated: MR
• Pages: 32
• On Sale: May 16, 2018
• Writer: Joshua Jabcuga
• Artist: Tadd Galusha
• Colorist: Ryan Hill
• Letterer: Tom B. Long
• Publisher: IDW

From the Publisher – From the mind of creator Joe R. Lansdale comes a prequel to the cult-classic film! President Nixon has discovered an alien threat, and he knows there’s only one man he can reach out to for help: Elvis Presley. But will Elvis be enough to defeat a horde of Cosmic Blood-Suckers?

Our We Talk Comics WeView – My first exposure to Joe Lansdale’s work was the 1993 DC/Vertigo mini-series Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo, and I was hooked. Long before the genre mash-ups became popular, Lansdale reeled me in by mixing cowboys and zombies (it would be a few years later that I realized his Hex tale was just a variation on a theme with his now classic Dead in the West novel from 1986). He would pull a similar, clever sleight of hand in his 1994 novella “Bubba Ho-Tep” which appeared in the alternate history anthology The King is Dead: Tales of Elvis Post Mortem. This time Lansdale was twisting and mixing mummies, the pop culture phenomenon of singer Elvis Presley and a healthy dose of tabloid-esque “Elvis Lives” sightings. Reviews on the story were mixed but it sustained enough for filmmaker Don Coscarelli, most known for Phantasm and The Beastmaster, to adapt the story to a film starring Evil Dead‘s Bruce Campbell as an elderly “King of Rock and Roll” turned geriatric Mummy fighter.

Flash forward sixteen years. The 2002 film is now a cult classic and someone at IDW came up with the idea of a prequel mini-series titled Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood Suckers. I’m glad they did. The pulpy nature of the concept lends itself perfectly to the medium and since the story is a prequel, readers can jump in without having ever read the novella or seen the film. The story follows an aging, but still vital, Elvis who is being blackmailed by Colonel Tom Parker to be a monster hunter for the U.S. government. Teamed with an eclectic monster fighting crew, Elvis takes on a mission that appears to be vampires from outer space.

Since this is the first issue there is a great deal of exposition, but writer Joshua Jabcuga does a great job keeping the narrative moving, while unpacking the back story and introducing the status quo and supporting characters. He sprinkles in some terrific one-liners and keeps the trademark vulgar humor and tongue-in-cheek horror that worked so well in both the short story and film but expands on it to give it a Buffy, The Vampire Slayer meets Mission: Impossible vibe as well. Jabcuga does a great job getting the ball rolling especially considering that mountain of set-up he has to climb.

Tadd Galusha turns in solid artwork for the first issue. Characters based on real people are recognizable and at times his work reminds me of a young Bernie Wrightson or Joe Kubert which works really well for a series that will essentially be a monster book. Ryan Hill’s colors are vibrant and he alternates between extremes with cool colors in the creepy or quiet moments and opting for bright and warm colors (lots of orange) that help give the vibe of the 70s in this period piece. Regardless which end of the spectrum he is using, his colors complement Galusha’s art perfectly. They make a great team.

I hope the rest of the series builds up and pays off as well as it was set up. If so, then, sales willing, I’ll happily be waiting for the return of the King for more Bubba Ho-Tep adventures.

Rating – Very Fine+ (VF+) or 8.5/10

Review by Brett Harris

Love the review? Hate the review? Disagree with me? I’m happy to talk comics on twitter @BrettTHarris

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