Doesn’t it feel like the moment we cough, Image produces about twenty new #1’s? That’s what it feels like all the time now thanks to Image expanding into the creator owned comics path. While I admit I haven’t tried all of these new series, I appreciate that Image is willing to give a writer and artist a shot to create a memorable comic. I hate to say it but I feel like I need to buy a comic with familiar names to get into a new series. With CLONE, I came for the artist but I stayed for the writer.

David Schulner is a clean slate, he states it at the end of the issue actually. He’s never written a comic before so this is a rare chance for me to read a fresh newcomer on the scene. (I recall the last time I was able to do that was with a Mr. Scott Snyder. We know how that worked out.) While this certainly isn’t the most perfect debut for a new writer there is certainly a lot to love about this series. Schulner just drops us into this story involving a man who has been cloned, and we get no explanation on why that is happening. It’s like jumping into an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’ but it has more violence. This is like an action movie but hopefully it will be more then a big chase scene for the remainder of the series. The main character is a bit empty to me, but maybe that’s the point. He obviously isn’t the first clone so it certainly makes sense he has little personality for the time being.

Again I got interested in this series thanks in part to the artist with Juan Jose Ryp. I got introduced to his work a Avatar print book called ‘No Hero’. He’s an Avatar staple and he is known for his incredible detail and insane use of gore in a given issue. Seriously, a man could be simply shot in the gut and you’d somehow see his intestines go everywhere. But here, he is subdued with the violence even though we do get some graphic surgery in here. But you still get a ton of detail into each panel. I don’t wanna say he is the next ‘Moebius’ because that is going a bit too far, but that’s the artist he best reminds me of. The settings aren’t ‘far out’ like Moebius, but it is amazing how much detail he’ll put in a simple area like a nursery. Plus, whether it be by his choice or the script, I liked how he is able to put differences in the clones of Luke so we don’t get confused on who is who. Whether we get just these three variations or more you can definitely tell Ryp will be able to draw them with a degree of finesse.

This was a nice debut for a new writer and for a new series. The premise is intriguing and I am willing to see how this goes into the near future. David Schulner doesn’t reach for the stars in complexity in his first ever script, but he starts off on the right foot and hopefully he keeps it up from here. He is lucky to have a wonderful group of artists including Juan Jose Ryp. If anything, as long as Schulner writes good scripts he will get incredibly gorgeous pages by Ryp and his team. Count me in on this wild sci-fi romp that everything should give a shot.