Throwaways #1 and #2 Review

This Ain’t No Boy Scout Camp

Written by: Caitlin Kittredge
Art by: Steven Sanders and Rachel Deering
Cover Price: $2.99/ea
Release Date: July 6 and August 17, 2016
Review by: Josh Vermillion

Up to this point in my comic reading career, I’ve pretty much stuck to DC and occasionally a couple of Marvel books. I’ve recently decided that I should branch out a little bit and get into some other types of comics. The description of Throwaways #1 got my interested right away, so I decided to give it a try. I’ve heard great things about Caitlin Kittredge, so I was hoping this series would live up to those reviews and my own expectations. Two issues into the series, let’s see how she’s doing so far.

The series starts off with some instant action as our main protagonist Dean Logan and some girl named Abby being shot at by some military-looking people. They’re pinned down, but Dean stands up and starts sending broken glass back at them with his mind. Talk about an opening! I have no idea what’s happening, but I like it.

Let’s move back in time a little bit here, to about four hours before, as Abby and her former commanding officer in the Army, Charles, heading to some kind of PTSD meeting for veterans. Out of nowhere, Charles stands up and shoots everyone in the meeting but Abby. Just before he shoots himself, he tells Abby she never escaped Camp Cheshire. Abby tries to call 911, but she gets a call telling her that she’s been activated.

We cut to Dean Logan getting his ass beat by some jock, but his girlfriend Kimiko comes up and saves the day. An extraction team goes to pick him up, but he starts seizing in the middle of the sidewalk. Meanwhile, Abby is doing a pretty good job of handling some military guys with a piece of glass. Someone else on the radio tells Abby that she never escaped from Camp Cheshire, and that clearly freaks her out.

Back with Dean, Kimiko is concerned about the fact that her boyfriend just had a seizure in the middle of the street. Before they can talk too much, the extraction team shows up again and starts shooting at them. Abby has their back though. She shows up and helps them get away. We don’t actually see what happens to Kimiko, but Dean wakes up and sees Abby in some kind of white uniform talking about the attackers. She morphs back into normal Abby, and we see that not only can Dean move things with his mind, but he can read texts through hoodies as well.

We see a little bit about Abby’s time at Camp Cheshire, but the big reveal is that Kimiko is undercover and is supposed to be helping some guy named Tanner bring in Dean. The issue ends with a girl dressed in white stealing a truck and saying that she’s coming for Abby.

So let’s jump right into the second issue. This one doesn’t open up is as exciting of a way, but still intriguing. We see a Mr. Teng talking to a doctor about Abby and Dean getting away. The doctor assigns Mr. Teng to take down Dean and says she has someone else to take care of Abby. Abby and Dean are trying to find somewhere to run to when Abby gets shot and captured by some people in a van.

After some flashbacks to Abby’s time in Afghanistan, we catch up with Dean. Kimiko shows up and tries to help Dean out by breaking into a phone one of the kidnappers dropped. Abby is back with the same doctor that dealt with her at Camp Cheshire, and even though she bites off part of his cheek, she’s heavily drugged and isn’t getting away from him.

Luckily, Kimiko found where they were keeping Abby and Dean shows up to save the day this time. He uses his telekinesis to kill the doctor working on Abby. They’re running outside to meet Kimiko, but the lady in white, Alice, stops them and tells them she can help. She convinces them to get into the truck she stole and go with her. The issue ends with her telling Abby that she’s the one that activated her.

Okay, I know I just described a whole bunch of stuff. And I know I didn’t go into nearly as much detail as I could’ve, but I don’t think anyone wants to read a 2,000-word review. There are a lot of different subplots going on and the story jumps back and forth both in time and between characters, so it’s not the easiest to follow. It is an extremely interesting story, though. I can’t wait to see more into Abby’s past and how Dean got these powers, and frankly, what exactly the extent of his powers are.

I didn’t love Steven Sanders’ art at first, but it grew on me and I thought it got better as the issues went along. By the end of the second issue, I was used to the art and started to like it a lot more. I’m ready to see his art keep improving along with the story.

Bits and Pieces:

There is so much stuff going on in these first two issues and even though I don’t have any idea where the story is going from here, I’m excited to see how Caitlin Kittredge fleshes out the characters. I have a lot of unanswered questions that I’m ready to see answered in the coming issues.

8.6/10