The Pirates of Coney Island #1, Poster and Plot

The Pirates of Coney Island is an 8-part comic book published by Image Comics, first released in 2007. It is written by Rick Spears and penciled and inked by Vasilis Lolos.

Pirates of Coney Island #1Pirates of Coney Island is the natural inheritor of the title “best angry anti-establishment youth comic” from Rick Spears’ previous effort, Teenagers From Mars. Spears brings together a gritty, realistic look at the life of young juvenile delinquents, but he flavors it with heavy doses of crazy characters, outrageous car chases and style that most real young punks probably can’t muster. Spears’ wild ideas have already found a natural mate in the anarchic art of Rob G, but Vasilis Lolos is just as simpatico, with an edgy punk look reminiscent of Becky Cloonan and Amazing Joy Buzzards‘ Dan Hipp and flashy, gorgeous colors that remind me of the work of Supermarket’s Kristian. Pirates of Coney Island is a burst of pure pop entertainment with a darkly compelling and violent mean streak underlying it.

The pacing on Pirates of Coney Island can be a bit off-putting at first, as the entire first issue goes by without even introducing the titular characters. Instead, our point-of-view character, a runaway new to the New York area, has a nasty run-in with rival female gang The Cherries, and it isn’t until issue two that he joins up with the Pirates. It’s a questionable pacing choice, but by the time issue two rolls in and Spears and Lolos are introducing us to the Pirates, or issue three features a kickass act of roadway piracy, all is forgiven. Pirates may start rolling a little slow, but once it gets going, it doesn’t let up. It’s also clear that everything introduced in the first issue, from the Cherries to the mysterious enforcer driving a “Cadillacula,” will show up again before the miniseries is done. Read more …