Escape From New York Volume 1 – Escape from Florida (December 2015)

Writer: Christopher Sebela

Artist: Diego Barreto

My friends in the comic book community have talked about the benefits of Hoopla so much that I was thrilled when the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh finally added it to their loaning service options. I was looking for a trade that didn’t hit the app yet and I accidently came across Escape From New York Volume 1. I was delighted they had it and I immediately borrowed it.

Call him Snake! After rescuing the President of the United States from the maximum-security island prison of New York, this 4-issue series immediately picks up after the events of the first movie. Snake has been granted his pardon but immediately becomes public enemy number one again after the fiasco at the Hartford Summit. Snake hitches a ride with a van full of people touting the sanctuary state of Florida. Snake decides to check it out for himself and must pass the life-or-death challenge called the Crucible to gain entry to this utopia. Once completed, Snake learns the hard truth about his new surroundings and the twin sons of the Sunshine State, Romulus and Remus, and must find a way to… Escape from Florida!

Comic books are the new medium to continue cult classic movies and long ended television shows. Boom! Studios released the Escape From New York series as a way to bridge the gap between what happened to Snake between New York and Los Angeles. It’s interesting to see where he traveled and the misadventures he found himself. I really enjoyed learning the ramifications of Snake’s switcharoo with the tapes at the end of the first film and how it impacts the United States and the world. Snake is the ultimate anti-authoritarian figure and seeing how he reacts to the world around him makes him the badass that ordinary people like to talk about in hushed whispers.

The bleak and dark future we first glimpsed in New York has creeped into every corner of the good ol’ USA and Florida is no exception. It’s so weird to see the sun shining and the cool waves cashing on a beach fortified with military installations and barbed wire fences. Snake’s escape mission is just as tense and terrifying as his previous one and its hard to trust new people you’ve just met, not knowing if they have your best interests at heart and that they might not make it to the outer side alive.

Escape from Florida is full of action and tongue-in cheek humor and a high-octane thrill ride that you’ll need to buckle in for from the start. I still dream of a final movie in the Escape trilogy and I hope they reference some of this source material in the movie. It’s not too late for John Carpenter and Kurt Russell to bring the franchise to a satisfying conclusion. Until then, do yourself a favor and use one of your future Hoopla credits to read this volume of Snake’s latest adventure, especially when you feel the need for an escape.