Oh S#!t, It’s Kim & Kim #1 Sets A New Standard For High-Octane, Sci-Fi Adventure

The Fighting Kims are back for a third adventure, but this time it’s in a brand new ongoing adventure. The open-ended comic is something Black Mask isn’t particularly known for, but the break-out success of the two previous Kim & Kim miniseries all but demanded that the publisher give the people what they want. Oh S#!t, It’s Kim & Kim is an accessible jumping on point for new readers of the fearless bounty hunting duo, casting them in a new status quo with new allies, new enemies and new potential love interests who may also get them both killed.

Across titles like Quantum Teens Are Go, Vagrant Queen and Eternity Girl, Magdalene Visaggio has proven to be one of the most inventive idea machines in modern comics, but it’s in Kim & Kim where that skill really gets a chance to shine. When you read a Kim & Kim comic, you almost get the sense of the familiar; small touchstones of the pop culture of our own world filter through the galactic adventures grounding the story in something the reader knows, but as soon as you get comfortable that’s when Visaggio, Eva Cabrera and company pull the rug out from under you and remind you that this is a universe unlike any in comics, one where interdimensional travel is just as common as necromancy and there’s a flying-by-the-seat-of-its-pants approach to worldbuilding with Kim & Kim that is unmatched by any of its peers.

One of the best things about Kim & Kim as a series, that the first issue of this new ongoing captures so well, is the sense that this is a fully-realized universe with a long history of adventures and stories we just haven’t been privy to. It almost feels like Kim & Kim is just one ongoing comic in an entire shared universe of stories and characters, one where their adventures might not be the biggest, baddest or boldest, but in the context of their own book, the stakes are always stacked as high as the ceiling.

While the series is renowned for its scope and scale, the real joy of Kim & Kim is in its character detail and interactions between its two leading ladies and the world around them. At no point do you lose track of which Kim is which, as they’re both complex and detailed characters in their own right, who are instantly recognizable by their voice alone within just a few pages of this first issue.

Cabrera’s space-punk aesthetic is ably matched by Claudia Aguirre’s neon-tinged colors which help bring the worlds of Kim & Kim to life and give each setting their own unique personality while maintaining a visual cohesion throughout the issue. Cabrera especially excels at exaggeration, whether it’s an overly dramatic reaction shot or a casino brawl, where backgrounds disappear, replaced by bold single-color backgrounds and manga-influenced speed lines.

Everyone involved in Kim & Kim is a superstar in the making and Black Mask was smart to keep hold of them by launching this new ongoing, and seemingly telling the creative team that they have free rein to do absolutely whatever the heck they want. If you’re after a female-fronted queer punk rock magic sci-fi space adventure, you gotta admit that’s a bit of a niche request, but you’re in luck as Oh S#!t, It’s Kim & Kim ticks all those boxes masterfully.

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