(NICK PALMIERI/GEORGE KAMBADAIS/PIPPA BOWLAND; 24 pages; CEX PUBLISHING; 2022)
Conspiracy theories (and theorists) have been around since… well, there was probably a leftover velociraptor who was totally convinced that a crocodile somewhere was responsible for the meteors that led to the ultimate extinction of dinosaurs. There is a conspiracy theory for everything and every theory has its avid (rabid?) followers: Lincoln killed Kennedy with a monkey wrench in the Library of Congress which led to the French Revolution. Nah… I just made that one up. Or did I? Anyway, we are here to discuss Eggers, a particularly vile and pernicious terrorist group who throw eggs at the windshields of oncoming vehicles; once the eggs make contact, the unsuspecting driver turns on their windshield wipers, causing the evil cackleberry to spread and forcing the driver to pull off the road to clean his windshield. Wait… what? Why? The answer is easy: To eliminate said unsuspecting driver. Sounds crazy, right? Well, that is the premise (and the theory) behind Nick Palmieri’s first comics work, EGGED, a one-shot (no pun intended) for upstart publisher, CEX… kinda.
When I mentioned to Nick that the ending – which I refuse to divulge here – lends itself to a sequel, he said, “I have ideas. I think for now, we’re gonna leave it as a one-shot but, the future is definitely open if I want to explore more. And I definitely have more that I could say with these characters.” So, without giving away too much of the story, EGGED starts off innocently enough, with a young couple searching their car for an errant egg before their dog could eat it and end up with a cut from the shell or, worse still, salmonella. Maria saves the day and playfully tosses the hen fruit for Ephrem to catch. Which, of course, Ephrem does not manage to do because he is “sportally challenged.” Maria is a little miffed and a lot amused that Ephrem’s miss sent the egg onto the windshield of a passing vehicle… until the driver throws the car into reverse, threatens to Dox them and takes pictures of them and their license plate. Things take an unexpected and sometimes comedic turn from there as Maria goes to confront the nutjob because… well, Maria has a secret! What follows is a showdown that features shatter-proof windows, a bear trap and a fifteen year old computer system. And, at the end, I’m still left guessing if “Eggers” are a real thing or not… I’ll certainly be on the lookout for rogue omelet fodder careening toward my windshield!
The art by George Kambadais is rather cartoony, but fits the story perfectly and the rather subdued color choices by Pippa Bowland is kind of a relief from the bright hues that are generally associated with comic books… low-key colors for a low-key narrative. EGGED works perfectly as a stand-alone story. However, if Mister Palmieri does decide to revisit these characters in the future, sign me up! Ask for EGGED at your favorite comic shop or order a copy here.