This week for The Friday Rec, I’m going to tell you just why the title Hotwire is for you. Do you like sassy chicks? Of course you do. Do you like gorgeous art? I know that’s right. Do you like Warren Ellis? Oh yeah! Follow the cut for more gushing.
From the mind of Warren Ellis and Steve Pugh she came. Roaming the streets of London armed with a badge and a talent for exorcizing ghosts after they’ve departed life for the unlife. Ellis’ name on the book is actually a little misleading, because while Warren Ellis came up with the concept, Steve Pugh does everything in this book, from the writing to the art. It’s definitely his baby, and you can tell he loves her.
In the near future, the dead walk the Earth. Called Blue Lights by the living, they go around causing havoc. Everything from being minor annoyances to deadly threats, Alice Hotwire is the person they call. The best way to describe her is to think of The Ghost Busters. Now mix the Ghostbusters with a healthy mix of The Bride from Kill Bill (but English), and you have Alice. She’s a sassy little girl with a dark past involving dumbing herself down for a boy (what girl hasn’t done that? Lots, if very special episodes of sitcoms are at all accurate) then losing that boy to a Blue Light. This simultaneously gives her conflict and motivation, as you will see later in the series.
Speaking of series’, guess what? It’s a fairly new one! Just like my Flash recommendation from a couple months ago, this franchise is still fairly new, with only 5 issues having been released. If it continues, she’ll have a set up similar to a property like Hellboy. Self-contained mini-series’ that have a continuity between them. You can read the new series Deep Cut right now, and it was just released last week from Radical Comics. This time it’s a 3 issue mini-series instead of a 4 issue mini like the first arc Requiem for the Dead. If you pick up Deep Cut, you will completely understand what is going on, as it is new reader friendly. But if you would like, the first hardcover is out, and it reads really well. It’s just a lot of fun.
And My God, the art. Steve Pugh, who has mostly been known as an artist, has worked on both sides of the Atlantic, for the anthology magazine 2000 A.D. (PS, guys, a new name might not be a bad idea) and working for such luminaries as John Ostrander and Garth Ennis, has finally moved into the world of writing, and he really did a great job crafting the story of Alice. It’s impressive for someone’s first outing as a written storyteller. I really want to read more about her, do you?
You can pick it up here on Amazon for ONLY $10.17! That’s an absolute steal for such a fun book. Also pick up her adventures in Deep Cut, on sale now at your local comic shop.
