Review – Minor Threats: The Fastest Way Down #1 (Dark Horse Comics)

April 5, 2024

2–3 minutes

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer(s): Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum
Artist: Scott Hepburn
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Release Date: 3rd April 2024

Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum’s Minor Threats was unquestionably one of the sleeper comic book hits of 2022. It introduced us to a makeshift group of D-List villains as they tried to survive in a city that had been turned into a police state by a superhero group know as the Continuum following the brutal murder of Kid Dusk, the sidekick of famed vigilante The Insomniac. Imagine the Justice League going into super-aggressive crowd control mode after Robin’s murder sparks a Batman killing spree and you’re definitely in the right ballpark.

Blending drama, humour, violence and emotion into what we called “a fresh, enthusiastic love letter to comic book excess”, the series did a great job of both celebrating and subverting the slightly tired ‘capes and cowls’ format, with Blum and Oswalt fleshing out Twilight City into a living, breathing mish-mash of all your favourite comic book tropes. More than the large scale, high-stakes storytelling however, what really made the first volume of this series sing was Frankie Follis, our leading lady. Formerly a supervillain named Playtime who found herself following in the footsteps of her career criminal mother, Frankie was simply doing her best to put her past behind her and rebuild a life with her young daughter, only to find herself heading up the aforementioned group as they were eventually somehow able to take down both The Insonmiac and his Joker-esque nemesis The Stickman.

This new series start with that power vacuum being filled, somewhat grudgingly, by Frankie and former mob doctor “Scalpel” (whose relationship seems to have… developed since the last time we saw them), brokering an uneasy peace with the Continuum and trying to keep the assorted criminals of the Redport district firmly in their place. As you might expect, that peace that doesn’t last too long, and whether it’s rival villain gangs such as the brilliantly eccentric “Holiday Squad”, or the fact that it’s surely only a matter of time before other heroes outside of the Continuum start poking around to find out what really happened to The Insomniac, it’s safe to say that things are going to get worse before they get better for the immensely likeable Frankie.

Once again, the worldbuilding on display here is absolutely top-notch, with Oswald, Blum and artist Scott Hepburn unleashing a seemingly non-stop machine gun of creative ideas and colourful characters. Hepburn in particular deserves special credit for the execution of the aforementioned “Holiday Squad”, and the Toronto-based artist shows the same knack for dynamic action, amusing facial expressions and slightly (while not comically) over-the-top violence that made the first series such a standout.

As before, the tone is kept fluid here, switching from drama to comedy and all stops in between, and it’s that fluctuating approach – not to mention the clear affection for the genre from the entire creative team – that really helps this series sing. Effortlessly dispatching the concept of ‘superhero fatigue’ one exploding Rubik’s Cube at a time, this is a fantastic follow-up series that demands your immediate attention.

Rating: 4.5/5.

[PREVIEW ARTWORK – CLICK TO ENLARGE]