Maniac of New York #1
Writer – Elliott Kalan
Artist – Andrea Mutti
Every week, I get an email from Things From Another World about their final order cutoff for comics coming out soon. I always check the offerings to ensure I get the independent comics my shops won’t carry or to reserve a surefire hot comic. One of the issues I just got in the mail was Aftershock Comics’ Maniac of New York.
New Year’s Eve 2016. Time Square. No better way to ring in the coming year. However, this year will be burned into the memories of everyone in the Big Apple and across the globe. Harry the Maniac has dashed the hopes for everyone’s fresh start as he kills seventy-nine people and escapes without a trace.
Fast forward four years later, New York City is still in the grip of fear and panic as Harry’s murderous rampage continues with his body count about to hit the five hundred victim mark. Gina Greene volunteers to take over as head of the Maniac Task Force in order to bring Harry to justice. She reaches out to Zelda Pettibone, unfairly saddled with the Harry the Maniac case, in order to come up with a plan to stop the madman and save the city and its scared citizens from more bloodshed and tragedy.
At first glance, you might think this is derivative of Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan or Maniac. This comic series might be described as such, but it’s so much more than that. At the end of almost every slasher movie, the killer is dispatched (until the inevitable sequel). What if Jason Voorhees or Michael Meyers is never killed? What if they continue their reign of terror and trying to survive becomes part of everyday life? That’s the premise of Maniac of New York. The cops have grown accustomed to Harry’s murder and mayhem, they just laugh it off and think nothing of it. Men and women watch the daily news for the traffic and slasher report. Gina has her reason to stop Harry and it’s the reason why Zelda agrees to help her. A partnership is forged by the end of this issue just as we witness Harry’s next targets, a group of passengers on New York’s first all automated subway car. Gina and Zelda are both smart and hardnosed enough to see that Harry is captured. Of course, they both may very well be his next victims.
If you have finished the Friday the 13th Blu Ray set, you are killing time until Halloween Kills hits theaters later in the year, or are sick and tired of watching the same horror movie ad nauseum, do yourself a favor and pick up Maniac of New York. Your life may depend on it! DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!
Issue one is now available. Issue two will be released on March 10th, 2021.
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