‘Heavy’ Is A New Cosmic Buddy-Cop Dark Comedy Coming From Vault Comics
by Olly MacNamee
Is new Vault Comics’s series The Punisher, but on acid? After all, Heavy by writer Max Bemis (Moon Knight, Evil Empire, Worst X-Man Ever) and artist Eryk Donovan (Memetic, Quantum Teens Are Go), with colors by Cris Peter (The Dollhouse Family), letters by Taylor Esposito (Baby Teeth, Cult Classic), and design by Tim Daniel (The Plot, Fissure), is described in an official press release as, “a psychedelic deconstruction of a character similar to The Punisher,” and “a dark, violent comedy about love and the transcendence of toxic masculinity”.
Of course, it’s nothing of the sort. It’s much more than that, as you can read for yourselves. A comedic story of cosmic proportions as well as something of an existential tinged buddy-cop story too.
Bill may be dead, but he’s got a job to do. Welcome to the Big Wait, where folks who don’t quite make the cut go to work off their debt. Everyone in the Wait’s got a job. Bill is a Heavy, whose job is policing the multiverse, making sure bad eggs get what’s coming to them. He’s on track to earn his Climb and reunite with the woman he loves…until he meets his new partner: the worst dude of all time. Heavy is The Punisher for neurotics; Inception for the impatient; Preacher for…well, it’s a lot like Preacher. Max Bemis (Polarity, Moon Knight, X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever) and Eryk Donavan (Memetic, Quantum Teens Are Go) bring you a story about the existential purpose of dumb boys with big guns.
Writer, Max Bemis, expanded on the thoughts behind this passion project, 10 years in the making:
I had been married recently and huge existential quandaries began to manifest in my heart concerning morality, my masculinity, and the enduring nature of true love. I wanted to write a comic akin to the weird, violent epics that were my favorites of all time (The Invisibles, Preacher)…
Heavy contains my wildest fears, hopes, self-criticisms and my own muddled vision of what reality means. It’s also meant to be a rip roaring good time. Writing the first few issues has been one of the greatest creative joys I’ve experienced so far, and I hope you guys will join us on its singularly strange journey.
Heavy #1 is on sale May 27th, 2020.
