Comic Review: Burnouts #5

Burnouts #1

Image Comics

Writer: Dennis Culver

Artist: Geoffo

Burnouts changes its tone from a friendly extraterrestrial to a xenomorph in this issue, closing out the first chapter in what promises to be a colorful series.

If you’re looking for an entertaining premise with a simple story, Burnouts is the comic for you. It’s easy to catch up when you get behind, and as far as I can tell, there’s no crazy background lore we need to know to understand the plot.

Not much time has passed since the first time Andy got high back in issue #1.  Since then he’s been hanging out with the other delinquents and, as expected, getting into trouble. He’s been cow tipping and hot boxing, bringing back my rural high school memories, and he’s already been arrested.

Near the end of issue #4, Andy’s parents picked him up from the police station. They’ve just learned he’s been hanging out with the burnouts, smoking, drinking, and they blame themselves! Their strict vibe never fooled me; I knew they were enablers all along! They’re also apparently possessed. While they’re in jail, Andy learns the sheriff has also been possessed. As the delinquents are sobering up, an alien flickers into their cell and possesses one of them. At school the next day, they all sneak into a closet to get high and figure out which one of them has been possessed. Despite hints that it’s Andy, both Phil and Dave turn out to be glowing green when everyone lights up.

Since Issue #4 left us hanging in the closet, we know there’s going to action early on, which is what this series has been all about. There are some fun one-liners, some new weaponry, and once again, Andy proves to the burnouts how important his intelligence is. Throughout the series, he’s struggled with his identity and how he fits in with this cliquey high school culture. He’s a smart kid with good parents and even better grades. He judged the burnouts from the start, and ironically, they judged him back.

The majority of the issue, as usual, was action between the aliens and burnouts inside the high school. One question: Where are the teachers in this school?!

Though this series comes across as purely playful and fun, the tone turned serious in just a few pages. There are way more people possessed than any of us could have guessed, and these aliens have more of a plan than I’d imagined.

The cover art and title pages have been my favorite pieces of art in this series so far. Although I love the colors in the other pages, I do wish the lines were crisper. Geoffo is great at depicting action in a way that’s understandable and funny.