Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, image, jim zub, wayward

What Wayward #1 Teaches Us About The Way We See The World

Wayward is the new comic by Jim Zubkavich, Steve Cummings and John Rauch, out today from Image Comics. And it may be a Buffy wannabe, a story of teenage women fighting supernatural creatures hiding beneath the streets of Tokyo, and one coming to grips with what may be a supernatural legacy of powers… but really it's about travel, and the difference between the way a country or  city is perceived and how it really is.

I remember my first trip to New York – my flight paid for by one DC staffer and my accommodation provided by another, both of whom would have been fired if DC had even suspected. From England, my version of New York was a mix of Taxi Driver, Spider-Man and Seinfeld – but mostly Spider-Man. And Daredevil. And Fantastic Four.

So for me seeing those water towers, walking through the gentrifying Hell's Kitchen, was as much a realistic experience as walking through the forests of Mirkwood to the lands of Mordor. I was as captivated and dazzled by the fire hydrants and yellow cabs as I would have been if Spider-Man had swung down Broadway.

And that's the trick Wayward does. A teenage of mixed heritage, brought up in Ireland, now going to Tokyo for the first time, to stay with her mother after a divorce. Steeped in Japanese language and culture but never having been before. Loving the minutes and the minutia of walking the streets of Tokyo.

And then discovering that all the stories of supernatural cats following you, straight out of The Cat Returns…

monsters hiding as men, kick ass women in flowing skirts doling out deadly justice…

…all beneath the gaze of the average citizen, is nevertheless all real and all true. And she is an integral part of it all.

That's Wayward. Now, excuse me, I'm heading home and I have to fight my way through a crowd of bowler hatted businessmen, punk rockers, Beefeaters and time travellers in red phone boxes. All without getting my copy of Wayward creased…

Wayward #1 is published today.

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