Pilot Season is an annual initiative from comics publisher Top Cow Productions in which readers are able to vote on the future of a series one-shot pilot comics released throughout the year. Voting takes place online and the recipients of the highest number of votes later become ongoing series. Now, as it enters its fourth season, Pilot Season will debut a new format consisting of five new concepts and five different creative teams released over a span of five weeks.
Kicking off Pilot Season 2010 is Pilot Season: 39 Minutes #1, set for release on 22 September. This title was created and written by William Harms (Impaler), and debuts up-and-coming artist Jerry Lando, along with a cover by Rafael Albuquerque (American Vampire). Its premise is the classic heist story, but turned on its head. Inspired in part by the 1997 robbery of the North Hollywood Bank of America, Harms wanted to take the idea of a skilled team of criminals and set them to robbing banks in small, isolated towns. However, in writing, the story has evolved into a more complex tale of betrayal and sacrifice.
The issue begins with members of a heavily armed team of criminals entering a bank in a small Nebraska town and killing nearly all the inhabitants without provocation or remorse. They then round on the sole survivor and order her to ring the police, tell them what happened, and ask them to send everyone. At the same time, a federal agent is talking to a prisoner at Fort Leavenworth prison and reveals to him the agency’s suspicion that the robbers are a group of ex-Special Forces soldiers who served under the prisoner in Iraq. From this opening, the story moves into wholesale slaughter mixed with what appears to be a healthy dose of conspiracy.
Being 32 pages long, it’s difficult to get a lot of the “meat” of the story into this single issue, and the reader is left with a lot of questions, However, this is likely intentional as it pulls the reader in while they try to work out why this team of ex-soldiers have no compunctions about killing so many civilians and what the purpose of their seemingly random robberies in the town is. Add to this some mysterious figures who look to be pulling some strings, and you’re left with a story that’s somewhere between Heat and Prison Break.
The art is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, the art supplements the story well and uses some excellent colours and lighting. In contrast, some of the detail seems askew, especially in characters’ faces. Lando’s deviantArt gallery proves that he has clear talent with a pencil so it is a bit odd that some of the faces feel like they haven’t been drawn with the same care as other detail in the panels. While this isn’t a show stopper and the rest of the art provides some counter-balance, some readers may find it distracting.
In Harms’ own words, 39 Minutes is a “story about soldiers coming home from war; about the inherent inequality between soldier and military contractor; and what it means to sacrifice everything for one’s country.” Some of this is alluded to in the first issue, and should 39 Minutes be a winner in this Pilot Season, the rest will be inevitably expanded on. Although conspiracy theory has been done to death somewhat in popular culture, Harms has written this issue quite well and definitely peaks the interest for what may come.
39 Minutes is an admirable start to this latest Pilot Season, and while it does have some flaws, it is an encouraging start to the series. I look forward to seeing what the competition will bring.
