Dust off your bowling shirt and bag and get ready to hit the alley with this new series that combines religion, bowling, and gratuitous violence in a story that ends up being quite timely and emotionally stirring.
Cover by Roland Boschi and Moreno DinisioWritten by Rick Rememder, Andy Samberg, and Joe Trohman
Illustrated by Roland Boschi
Colored by Moreno Dinisio
Lettered by Rus WootonSERIES PREMIERE
Everyone was sitting around wondering when comedy legend ANDY SAMBERG (SNL, Palm Springs) would join super-star writer RICK REMENDER (DEADLY CLASS, LOW) and Fall Out Boy’s multi-talented JOE TROHMAN to write a comic about a vigilante hero who smashes people’s faces with a bowling ball-and everyone’s dreams have come true! With art by the fan-favorite ROLAND BOSCHI (THE SCUMBAG, Wolverine)!To care for his ailing father, pro bowler Levi Coen is forced to quit his dream job and return to his hometown, which he soon discovers has been overrun by Neo-Nazis! With only his bowling ball collection to defend himself, Levi becomes THE HOLY ROLLER, a trick bowling ball-wielding Jewish superhero battling to liberate his home and bowl a perfect game against crime!
Kingpin meets Inglourious Basterds meets Batman (that old chestnut) with equal parts action and humor in this special introductory issue with 42 full pages of story! Two issues for the price of one! Three writers for the price of one! Same great low price!
1t’s 1986. While Holy Roller bowling champ David Cohen hits impossible shots, his son Levi spends time at the bowling alley playing video games and dealing with the local bully (whose parents just happen to own said bowling alley). Like any pre-teen, Levi’s quite embarrassed of his father’s chosen vehicle of success. Although he does end up taking up the family tradition of bowling, and shows talent for it, he escapes as far from suburban Ohio as possible. Twenty years later he’s on a Greenpeace ship somewhere in Asia, drinking and doing his best to forget the life he left behind.
But life catches up with you, as does time. The elder Cohen is ill, and it’s time for Levi to return home. Two decades away from home sees a very different town than which Levi left it. Like many American Rust belt towns, poverty and drugs moved in, along with a dose of white supremacy. The bully whose parents owned that bowling alley now owns it himself, and he’s not happy to see Levi back in town. His bowling heritage and his Jewish heritage may be all that Levi has, but it’s going to save himself and perhaps his town.
The concept here is the classic trope of prodigal child returning home, not intending to stay but finding a purpose and reason to stay: his Jewish faith in danger. That last part isn’t clear from this issue, though you get a hint of it from the final panel of an angry, bloodied Levi in the aftermath of an anti-Semitic attack. You can see in his eyes that this was a wake up call for him, that circumstance brought him home for this reason. The trick for our scriptwriters will be to make this trope stand out from the scores of other stories with a similar theme. The tonal balance of comedy and serious subjects could be that key, making sure that each of those doesn’t get lost in the message of the other.
Remender’s “Deadly Class” series certainly did not shy away from violence, and that legacy carries over here in the fight scene – – with clever use of a bowling ball, of course – – in the final pages of the issue. With Roland Boschi’s experience on “Wolverine,” this should come as no surprise. It’s visually gruesome as it gets, and if you’re of the squeamish type, you may not want to read this issue while eating.
The longer page count does allow room for this story to breathe and build its world . . . and yet, there still seems something missing. Levi’s father hints that his son was a great bowler on the pro circuit, but we don’t see this in action. It’s also not made clear just what led him to quit, though a tongue-in-cheek speech from the Greenpeace boat captain hints at just what led to that downfall. It’s a wasted opportunity to spend as much time as the book did on the 1980s flashbacks of young Levi and his dad when there was room to show adult Levi’s bowling success – – and what led him away from the sport. Perhaps this will be explored in a future issue, but not doing it here lessens the impact of Levi’s return home.
Continued belowScript weaknesses aside, the art does a fine job selling the book. Figures are abstract, but shading provides dimension and detail. Drawing high speed action is difficult, and Roland Boschi captures speed and precision beautifully, whether it’s a bowling ball down the lane or a punch to the jaw. Light linework allows for that movement and follow through, with the help of Rus Wooton’s letters. While Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg is credited on the script, no doubt he adds his influence from television into visuals. Each panel is closely cropped, without waste of space, allowing an unexpected level of intimacy. And colors capture the two time periods effectively, from the pastels of the Miami Vice 1980s to desaturated earth tones of a Midwest town on hard times.
Perhaps it’s coincidence, but this series debuts at a time in our history when anti-Semitism is reaching all time highs. The new Holy Roller may just be the Jewish superhero that we need.
Final Verdict: 7.1 – the start to a fun superhero story doesn’t bowl a strike, but does get the spare.
