By Jacob Cordas — One step away from nuclear annihilation is America in the 1950s. We thankfully avoided the apocalypse we probably deserved…but that could change at a moment’s notice. It’s within this context that the fantastic Nuclear Family #1 is set. Based off the classic Philip K. Dick short story Breakfast at Twilight, we are introduced to a world where things went the way everyone thought they were heading.

But first we need to meet the titular nuclear family. Writer Stephanie Phillips (Harley Quinn, A Man Among Ye) and artist Tony Shasteen (Burn Notice, Deathstroke And The Curse Of The Ravager) are instantly able to capture a family just purely existing. We start with the father working as a used car salesman, the most American job that has ever existed. Rendered in beautiful realism, you feel an immediate connection with his quiet and passively acceptable life. The script heightens this by showing us a man that is wounded far deeper than someone who never participated in combat would expect to be.

There’s just such a speediness to the characterization that is so admirable. Rarely do I find empathy generated so quickly, nature so well defined, but somehow the team here is able to do so with ease.

Phillips has always excelled at this. Part of why I became a fan of hers to begin with was the sincerity she brings to every piece. Phillips has no tendency towards deconstruction, nor irony. Instead, her stories are the stories she simply wants to tell. She doesn’t guss them up in fancy robes to hide their innate simplicity. Instead she lives in her simplicity, creating humane genre stories.

This is no exception, serving as an excellent showcase for this talent. Here we get a sincere take on the threat of nuclear armageddon. Every character is written to create maximum insight into their soul, every narrative choice instantly forwards the story and tone. She is able to craft insight without ever slowing down the plot. It’s practical storytelling of the highest order.

Shasteen I was less familiar with before reading this and, if Nuclear Family #1 is evidence of his previous work, I should be ashamed of that. Here he brings a sense of realism that is only really found near the work of Alex Ross. He shines in the facial features and body language. He shines in the house finding dynamic ways to lay out the space, making it all feel lived-in. He shines in the mechanics underneath the house, radio transmitters that seem both scary and silly.

The rest of the team does phenomenal work as well. The coloring by JD Mettler is muted giving the naturalism a distorted vibrancy. Everything feels a degree off, almost like an impression of a good day muddied by the tragedy to come. The lettering by Troy Peteri leans into the atmosphere. It stays flat until it can no longer remain flat - the world interrupts the lettering forcing it to be something far more worrying.

The highlight of the whole issue (which speaks more to the quality of this passage than as a disparaging comment to the rest of the work) is the back matter. It is hysterical, wonderfully written anti-communist propaganda that made this communist laugh out loud while reading, hysterically designed by Charles Pritchett. The pages are wonderfully laid out, highlighting the jokes without ever shoving them in your face. It’s not subtle per say, but the nuance of technique being used here doesn’t need to be. I rarely laugh while reading humorous comics — here I laughed my ass off.

It’s just such a delightful comic the whole way through. It’s sincerely what it wants to be with a sharp wit underpinning it. It’s a great take on a story I’ve seen before, a strong enough take that I will be reading more, well into our own nuclear winter, although preferably before I have kids.

Overall: Another excellent comic from writer Stephanie Phillips, Nuclear Family #1 is a wonderful take on a cold war nightmare. Philip K. Dick would be proud. 8/10

REVIEW: Nuclear Family #1

Nuclear Family #1
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artist: Tony Shasteen
Colorist: JD Mettler
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Backmatter Designer: Charles Pritchett
Publisher: Aftershock
Price: $4.99
America- 1957. Elvis dominates the airwaves and apple pie is served after every meal. But- with the dark cloud of nuclear holocaust looming- Korean War vet Tim McClean's major concern is taking care of his family in the atomic age. When the first bomb does drop on an unexpecting Midwest city- Tim and his family find themselves plunged into a strange new world- where what's left of the Unites States has gone underground while continuing to wage war on Russia with unthinkable tactics. Based on Philip K. Dick's short story Breakfast at Twilight- NUCLEAR FAMILY is written by Stephanie Phillips (Butcher of Paris- Heavy Metal- ARTEMIS AND THE ASSASSIN- RED ATLANTIS) and illustrated by Tony Shasteen (Star Trek). It is Cold War era science fiction at its most timely and terrifying.
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