Junkyard Joe #1 Review: Rediscovering Humanity Amongst the Wreckage

Last year, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank brought Geiger to Image Comics, a story set at the end of the world in the years following a devastating nuclear war. While that story has come to a close, the world of The Unnamed has much more to explore – including the life of Junkyard Joe. The character, which first appeared in the back-up strips of Geiger issues, gets his own series in Junkyard Joe #1. While this spinoff series takes readers deeper into that world long before the events of Geiger, it's a story that very much stands on its own, one that paints an unflinching look at the horrors of war, the impact of trauma, and what it means to be both human and humane.

Junkyard Joe #1 picks up in 1972, near the end of the Vietnam War and follows a group of soldiers called the Junkyard Dogs as they prepare to go out on a mission with their newest member, an unusual soldier they will come to call Joe. After their unit is attacked and Joe saves most of them, Joe is revealed to not be a human soldier but some sort of robot, instead As their mission continues, Joe doesn't speak, but he becomes one of them. Unfortunately, we see the full fate of the unit unfold on these pages as experienced by its lone human survivor Muddy Davis, as well as by Joe – not to mention what Joe's mission in Vietnam actually was. The final page of the issue sets up the future of the series, with Muddy haunted by the fate of his platoon and the robot soldier he's now told did not exist.

In terms of comic book nuts and bolts, Junkyard Joe #1 is a rare instance of an issue where everything works. The story manages to balance the surreal nature of inserting a robot soldier into a historical event without losing the gravity of the experience. However, where this issue truly excels is in its art. Frank, accompanied by Brad Anderson's colors, conveys the experiences and emotions of war and service in the faces of each character. Particularly in Muddy's, we see a richness of humanity and a full range of feeling – fear, longing, reservation, and a determination to make it home. 

There are also moments where we get real glimpses of how young some of these soldiers are. When it comes to the brutality of the issue, there's a good bit of blood spilled, but it's honest and unflinching. The suffering, while on the pages of a comic book, feel real. It's also worth noting that Frank also gives humanity to the "enemy" as well – particularly in a series of panels where Joe is confronted with the human cost of war that transcends race and nationality and any concept of "sides." It is perhaps in that aspect where this comic is at its best: the art manages to provide humanity and emotion to a character who is entirely wordless – just a hunk of steel.

Junkyard Joe #1 is by no means an easy read, but that is part of what makes this such a well-done comic book. This is a mature, unflinching and at times graphic issue that prompts the reader to not only get inside the heads of both Muddy and Joe, but also do a bit of introspection themselves. It also doesn't linger too long in that space—future issues move the story ahead by decades and out of the immediate hell of war—but as things go, this is an incredible start.

Published by Image Comics

On October 5, 2022

Written by Geoff Johns

Art by Gary Frank

Colors by Brad Anderson

Letters by Rob Leigh

Cover by Gary Frank and Brad Anderson