Get Woke Issue #1 by Tim West
Get Woke issue #1 is a clever and hilarious comic, though perhaps can be considered slightly offensive at times. Get Woke was a recently successfully funded Kickstarter campaign and comes out of the brain of long time indie comic creator Tim West. The art is by Kevin Mccullough. Colors are by Dimas Mohammad. Also before going further, here is the link to the ordering page if you’re interested in purchasing this book for print, and the Comixology link for a digital read.
Story
The story follows the main character teenager John Woke. John Woke’s father is what society often labels as a “conspiracy nut”. He believes every conspiracy that you’ve probably ever heard of and has been raising his son to believe the same. The story begins on the day of John’s class trip to Washington D.C. Without revealing spoilers about the story, we’ll just say that it’s a fun trip that ends in John Woke joining a team called Kontrol. Kontrol is made up of Princess Diana, Big Foot, Elvis and Michael Jackson (and there are more team members we won’t spoil in this review). What’s fun about this comic is the way it handles so many offensive and enraging things with a sort of flippant fun. Especially in our modern times when the phrase “commie libtards” would definitely trigger some angry emails and loss of fans, this comic utilizes these twisted ideologies as tools to further the world of “conspiracy theories are completely real”. The set up of the comic of John interacting with his paranoid father, pays off later when the paranoia ends up being justified.
Art
The art is by Kevin Mccullough and we were extremely excited by all the little details that when into each panel. The characters are exaggerated and cartoonish, but they still feel like they are coming from a place of truth. Because the story is so tongue-in-cheek, the character designs with exaggerated features (looking at you rail-thin Michael Jackson) heighten the rabbit hole that John Woke falls down throughout the story.
Colors
The colors by Dimas Mohammad are vibrant an saturated. They enhance the idea of the comic being satirical and not meant to be literal. The colors were not exceptional, but they enhanced the storytelling with their style and did not distract from the intent of the art.
Letters
The letters were made digitally and done by the comic’s writer Tim West. Stylistically they are adequate. What really stands out are the declarations that are done in very vibrantly colored bold fonts. They enhance the exaggerated feeling of both the art and story.
je ne sais quoi
What stood out the most about this comic was that it plays with the modern obsession with conspiracy theories. Thanks to the internet, a lot of crack stories about secret government bases and flat earth sciences have become almost the zeitgeist of a post-truth society. The fun in this comic is found in the playful nature of how the writer utilizes all of these conspiracies to craft an entire world.
On a scale between laying your head to rest on a pillow made of rainbows and cotton candy to sitting in a soaking wet bean bag chair we are happy to give this comic a strongly recommended motorized rocking chair that creaks the entire album of The Wall by Pink Floyd.