Debris is a new mini-series from good ol’ Image. Chances are you may have no idea what it’s about. The cover should catch your eye, it’s very enticing. Once you start to look in, you discover what is the best start to a mini-series since Dancer. Debris #1 has it all. A post-Armageddon plot, a pretty cool main character, and best of all, a GIANT MONSTER. If these things aren’t good enough, I don’t know what is.

Here’s the official description from Image:

In the far future, humanity has doomed planet earth to rot and decay, covering her surface with garbage. Now, ancient spirits called the Colossals rise from the debris and attack the remaining survivors, forcing the human race to the brink of extinction. One warrior woman, Maya, sets out to find the last source of pure water to save the world before the monsters bring it all to an end.

This is the type of comic where instead of introducing the characters using the story as a backdrop, its a story using the characters. We have no idea what’s happening in the first few pages. As the story goes along, we learn what’s happening. There’s no filler scenes explaining things too deeply. That could be a good or bad thing depending. Thankfully, the characters (well the main one really) are engaging and pretty ‘cool,’ so explanation isn’t truly needed. The human race is almost extinct and there are monsters roaming around. That’s all we really need to know. Maya is the name of the main focus, while her backstory isn’t explained, she’s pretty engaging eithout the need for explanation. It takes a good writer to make characters in a story like this engaging without making them seem cardboard. Writer Kurtis J. Wiebe succeeds.

The art I like, it has a certain style that compliments the tone of the book. Now this comic is exciting, complete with these giant (apparently robotic also, stuff like this will most likely be explained) dragon things called ‘Colossals.’ However, there is a named one called Jormungand. (Nice little reference to Norse mythology, Thor fans will know what I’m talking about.) The splash page with it appearing was amazingly done in execution and art. (That thing shouted Skreeee, very similar to what Godzilla shouts, Skreeeeonk!) What’s interesting and separates this from the similar book Enormous is the scenery. While the former uses buildings a lot, the scenery here is ruins with little to no buildings at all. With the bright blue sky, it makes the story nice to read.

Overall, it looks like we have another great mini-series from Image. I love these kind of storylines where the heroes have basically lost and are trying to survive. Add in these giant robotic dragon things, we have a pretty good comic in our hands. Plus Maya is a nice focus, isn’t generic, and I wouldn’t mind reading stories with her for awhile. Of course this being a mini-series, only four issues. So it’s not even a huge investment on your part, all the more reason to pick up Issue #1 of what could be one of the best mini-series of the year.