“Knock ‘Em Dead” #1 posits that killing – or bombing – in stand-up might be a bit more literal than anyone anticipated. Warning: spoilers ahead.
Cover by Andy Clarke
Written by Eliot Rahal
Illustrated by Mattia Monaco
Colored by Matt Milla
Lettered by Taylor Esposito Sometimes you kill. Sometimes you get killed. But no matter what, everyone dies the first time they go on stage. Pryor Brice has always wanted to be funny. And now, he’s taken the plunge and started doing stand-up comedy. Unfortunately, his older sister – Ronan – wants her brother to stop daydream-ing and focus on his future. Pryor is determined to succeed…the only problem is: He totally sucks at stand-up. That is…until an accident changes everything, leading both Pryor and Ronan to discover comedy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“Knock ‘Em Dead” #1 is a bit of a slow burn for a first issue, but it’s also a wise choice to lay some scaffolding before we hit the punchline. Rahal does good character work here to make Pryor a little different from the wise-cracking, average stand-up hopeful: he has family trauma, he has the guts to get up on stage and keep trying, and he has some genuine joy in doing so. Pryor’s young but he’s not hungry in that ambitious, frosty way most pop culture has us believing everyone is these days. There are innocence and gentleness here that feel good and true, and Rahal does good work to tease out Pryor’s personality in a short amount of time. The one blip in “Knock ‘Em Dead” is in its talkiness. It’s true that in comedy (and in comics) everyone calls you “kid,” but seeing it written as often as we do can feel a little hokey. Dialogue is difficult, if not downright impossible, to capture in an organic way in comics, but Rahal skews expository at times. Pryor’s appropriately reticent in some scenes and more vocal in others, but Ronan and Danny add just a bit too much plot in certain moments for those interactions to feel completely natural. Still, we’re on the right side of heaviness, and “Knock ‘Em Dead” #1 is a successful first issue.
The idea of killing or bombing in comedy is nothing new, but seeing it in action in a comic is interesting. Rahal and Monaco work well together to translate the whirlwind of emotions that bubble behind a mic when you know your set’s not going anywhere into visuals. The first instance is an intentional shock that takes a moment to process, though Milla sets the moment apart with a palette shift that works well. The subsequent panels in Pryor’s work montage flow a little better and carry the meta-humor through the rest of the narrative. Monaco puts excellent youthful detail into Pryor’s face in close-up panels and a lot of wry, flat expressions on other characters around him. Pryor’s sister sports just the right amount of elder-sibling strain, and Danny’s smirk suits both his stage persona and his offstage demeanor as a more seasoned comic. “Knock ‘Em Dead” also features a lot of scratchy action lines and shadows that amp up the sinister feel of Pryor’s antics and set the stage for a splashy ending.
Milla’s colors are fantastic, and Pryor often seems to be chasing the soothing warmth of the spotlight when he’s on and off the stage. Exterior nighttime lights are poppy and orange, with good, alluring flare and surreal glow. The rest of the palette features moody purples, greens, blues and pinks as Pryor almost seems to sleepwalk through his days to get to the more vivid, expressive nights. Of particular note is Pryor’s flashback to when his mother was alive. T.V. box panels blur at the edges with nostalgic glow and the stark sepia exterior at the base of the page seems to pull all the color, and thus the emotion, out of the scene into the harsh light of day. The scene, like the rest of the book, is expressive, yearning and well-executed.
Esposito gets to have a bit of fun with both sound effects and the script in “Knock ‘Em Dead.” It’s always a pleasure to read a comic in which Esposito flexes his creativity because no end product is ever quite the same. It’s also interesting to read how Rahal chooses to deal with the stand-up itself, as most of it is not scripted. Esposito uses scribbles and emojis to shorthand Pryor’s jokes and punchlines to great effect, and we get to see how the joke that finally nets him a few chuckles evolves over time. Esposito chooses a tall font with irregular As, Us and bubbly Bs that mirror Pryor’s youthful enthusiasm and uncertainty. There’s a wiggly quality here that suits the book’s mood nicely, as if the letters are going to slither out of the balloons and disappear into thin air.
For a comic about comedy, “Knock ‘Em Dead” isn’t what you’d expect. Pryor’s not your typical one-liner edgelord whose eagerness to break in means he’s over-extended himself or screwed over everyone in his life. Instead, he’s a heartfelt, likeable kid whose small moment of triumph is down to hard work and determination. Rahal, Monaco, Milla and Esposito put together a moody, endearing look at a boy who’s been thrust too early into harsh adulthood and who’s trying to make something of it by following his passion. “Knock ‘Em Dead” also largely succeeds in being funny, and the book doesn’t go too far out of its way to shout its premise from the pulp rooftops. Thank goodness. We’re engaged, invested and, with a cliffhanger like that, eager to see how this one’s going to play out.
Final Verdict: 8/10 – “Knock ‘Em Dead” #1 takes its time with its story and craft in a solid first issue.
