Teenaged punk band the Home Sick Pilots go looking for the ultimate summer gig, but wind up taking on ghosts, haunted houses and being alone.
Written by Dan Watters and illustrated by Caspar Wijngaard, Image Comics’ Home Sick Pilots operates as both a horror story for punks and a punk tribute for horror-heads. Either way, the first collection of Home Sick Pilots is a home run for Watters and Wijngaard, a book as unapologetic as its protagonists, and as terrifying as its premise.
Set on the west coast during the summer in 1994, Home Sick Pilots follows the lives of Ami, Buzz and Rip, three inseparable bandmates wandering the sunburnt streets of Santa Manos in search of the perfect gig and a good time. Things go awry, however, when Ami decides the band’s next gig should be in the town’s old haunted house. When the house decides it has its own plans for the trio, what was just another summer turns into anything but. Home Sick Pilots tells the story of three punks who only have each other, and the house that tries to convince each of them that they’re alone.
Dan Watters’ work on Home Sick Pilots is phenomenal. Every character, large or small, has an instantly recognizable depth that comes through with even the simplest of lines. Santa Manos itself seems to come alive through Watters’ character work, and the monotonous concrete forest serves as the perfect backdrop for the vibrant eldritch ghost story that ensues. Home Sick Pilots crescendos significantly towards it’s finale, with the first issues significantly slower-paced than the large-and-in-charge final chapters. But Watters takes full advantage of both gears, using the slower pace to thoughtfully explore complex themes, and eventually building to a satisfying all-out ghost story climax.
As good as the script is for Home Sick Pilots, Caspar Wijngaard’s art is just as impressive. Wijngaard draws with a clarity and personality that is clear, compelling and thoroughly fun to read. No panel too busy, or too empty. Evidently, Wijngaard and Watters were the perfect team to bring this wonderfully grim Santa Manos summer to life. Particularly in the earlier issues, Wijngaard’s character and setting work gives Home Sick Pilots an exemplary foundation on which to grow. Wijngaard also provides colors for the series, the color scheme choices perhaps steal the show. The horror elements of the book are highlighted in vibrant pinks and reds, while the streets of Santa Manos are laced with more subtle shades of sun-washed beige and tan. Home Sick Pilots’ color schemes lean beautifully into the punk perspective it inhabits and offers a vibrant and interesting punk-inspired take on what colors should be scary.
Home Sick Pilots Vol. 1 offers an excellent first chapter to a title with a lot of potential behind it. The narrative certainly balloons in scope by the final issues, but the dramatic tension ebbs and flows similarly, assuring that the readers’ emotional concern always stays paramount. While some may find themselves craving the earlier, quieter side of Home Sick Pilots once it decides to raise the stakes significantly towards the climax, the cliffhanger ending sets up a whole host of exciting directions the title could head in. Although if volume one was any indication, trying to predict where Home Sick Pilots will go next is a fool’s errand.
Home Sick Pilots is recommended for anyone over 17 who has a soft spot for ghost stories, or a soft spot for punks. And highly recommended for those who aren’t sure where they fall on either. Regardless of whether or not Home Sick Pilots will hook you in monthly going forward, Home Sick Pilots succeeds on every count and is certainly worth checking out.
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