The first half of this book deals with some heavy PTSD themes and does it well, with artful insight into trauma and loss. The second half steps down into typical action schlock but at least the stakes are high, with hints of larger problems in the background. Great art.

I have a high regard for Geoff Johns as a comics author, but this book was a bit of a disappointment. There's an interesting idea at its core, but there are too many niggling inconsistencies in the story and worldbuilding, which all build up into a rather big story-lump.

Muddy is a soldier in the Vietnam War, and there his company is joined by a robot, the titular Junkyard Joe. Muddy's whole company gets wiped out, and he only survives because of Joe. Then the army tries to gaslight Muddy into thinking he imagined Joe. Muddy returns to civilian live, and creates a comic strip based on Junkyard Joe, which becomes immensely popular.

All of which is a nice setup, an intrigueing idea. The first niggle presents itself - the strip as far as we get to read it, isn't very good. It's never really funny, just mildly strange and repetitive. I can't really imagine this thing running for more than a decade, let alone several decades. You get the feeling that Johns instantly ran out of ideas for the comics after just the two or three strips we get to see.

Johns adds a nextdoor family that consists of a father and his three children, which kind of echoes the kids that are added to Geiger (which takes place in the future of Junkyard Joe's universe), although I found the Geiger kids a lot more interesting. Here we get a lot of soapy stuff, the kids shouting at their dad about their recently deceased mother. It all feels a bit rote and rings hollow, to me.

The book consists of six chapters/issues and still the antagonists are woefully underdeveloped. The baddies show up wearing masks that are basically copies of Junkyard Joe's face, and besides it looking sufficiently creepy, I don't really know why they're wearing those masks. Is it to hide their identities? I'd say it only serves to attract more attention to them. It also doesn't help that they start killing townspeople left, right and centre, including quite a few local law enforcement officers, which you would think would attract a LOT more attention. (It doesn't, but it should've.)

It all reads like a Spielberg movie with added visceral gore, a robot E.T. with people getting half their faces blown off. It feels tonally off.

The art, I am pleased to note, is excellent. Gary Frank does some of the best expressive work in comics today.

Junkyard Joe is an interesting tale. "Muddy" Davis started writing a comic strip staring a robot soldier always showing up recruits at boot camp. His inspiration, we learn came from his interactions with a robot soldier while he was a draftee in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. But after his wife died, he couldn't carry on the strip. Right about that time, Sam Munn moved his three kids from California to rural Indiana into the house next door. Then the strange things started happening. Junkyard Joe showed up at the Davis house in the snow, strange folks were driving around the countryside. When Emily Munn discovered Joe and Muddy, the fun really began. A fun read that is part of a larger universe that is hinted at in the last scenes. And the varied artwork helps to really set the mood of this tale!

Thanks Netgalley and Image Comics for the chance to read this volume!

NetGalley Review

Star Rating: ★★★★☆

Really enjoyed this one, can' wait to see all the ways the crap hits the fans in the next volume.

Like always though, read it and decide for yourself

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley. Content warning for depictions of war, PTSD, and racism. Also: death of a parent and spouse.)

Today, the world knows him as Morrie "Muddy" Davis, the artist behind the long-running Junkyard Joe comic strip. But in 1972, he was Private Davis, just one of millions of Americans deployed to Vietnam. All he wanted was to get back to his farm in Melody Hills, Indiana - and into the arms of his "girl," Rita. When his platoon is ambushed, Muddy is the sole survivor - him, and a mysterious robot soldier he and his comrades nicknamed "Junkyard Joe." Lying concussed in a military hospital bed, the doctors convince him to quit all the robot talk, lest he be labeled crazy. In time, Muddy even manages to convince himself that he imagined the whole thing - though this doesn't stop him from channeling his experience into his art. Until, that is, Junkyard Joe shows up on his doorstep. Hot on "Project Beta's" tail? His now disgraced rogue creator.

With the comic-within-a-comic design, JUNKYARD JOE has a meta feel to it. Johns explores wartime violence and PTSD with compassion; both Davis and Junkyard Joe are memorable protagonists with rather touching journeys. While Davis's life has been upended - again - by the death of his wife and his subsequent retirement of Junkyard Joe, Joe is haunted by memories of the war and desperately in search of a place to call home. They both find their salvation in Melody Hills, which welcomes these hometown heroes with open arms. (Hopefully the kids at Melody Hills High will extend the same compassion to the mixed-race Munn kids.)

More than anything, I found myself falling in love with Junkyard Joe - no surprise, considering I'm team Cylon all the way. He's every bit as human as you and I - and maybe more so than his nefarious creator. After defending his platoon through an act of deadly violence, Joe develops an aversion to cruelty, smashing every gun he encounters into smithereens. His compassion extends to nonhuman animals, such that when he stumbles upon a group of hunters gathered around a dying buck, he destroys their guns, chases them off, and mourns the fallen deer. (Giving HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS.)

I didn't realize it when I requested this title on NetGalley, but JUNKYARD JOE is part of Geoff Johns's "The Unnamed Universe" world (also known as "The Geigerverse"). Whereas GEIGER is set twenty-five years in the future, JUNKYARD JOE begins in 1972 and ends in present day. Though Junkyard Joe makes his first appearance in GEIGER #5 (and The Northerner is introduced at the end of JUNKYARD JOE), I think it's safe to read them out of order. In any case, GEIGER definitely jumped to the top of my reading list.

Telling an incredibly small and pretty self contained story but with hints of a larger story, Junkyard Joe is another great entry into The Unnamed Universe from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. I will admit that I was a little hesitant to pick up the titles, but in actually reading them, they've really won me over. Going forward, I will be picking up all of them, as I'm ready to commit to the full ride.

Special thanks to Image Comics and NetGalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

In this story we get a glimpse into the Vietnam War but with a robot. Our main character gets saved by the robot that he seems to bond with, only for the doctor to tell him not to talk about it, or he would have to put a blue band on him, and he didn't want that. He goes home and writes a comic book strip with the robot to cope. Though, the past has a way of coming back to find you.

Junkyard Joe tells the story of ex-soldier and cartoonist, Muddy Davis and a soldier he used to serve with who happens to be a robot.
Muddy Davis has just retired a longstanding comic strip called Junkyard Joe when the inspiration winds up on his doorstep.
Why is Joe there? Who are the people chasing him? All this and more in a great nee series by noted comic scribe, Geoff Johns.
The artwork was handled by Gary Frank. I’ve always loved his artwork and with this book, I really remember why.
There is a larger story going with the comics from Ghost Machine that plays a small part in this book, but you don’t really need to know anything about it to enjoy the story.

A well-done story coupled with good graphics. The story is enjoyable, and the plot will keep your interest. One to read for sure!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I recently heard about this title from a video on the Casually Comics on YouTube. This comic was by creators who I have enjoyed in the past (from their work at DC Comics and other places) and sounded like something I might want to check out.

The story starts out in Vietnam in 1972 with an issue that would be right at home in any of the war comics that came out in the 1960's and 1970's. It very much has the mix of grime, violent reality with the fantastical. I can see the inspiration from old series like G.I. Robot here.

Then things jump to present day, and we're introduced to the residents of a small Indiana town. We feel the drama of the lives of Muddy Davis and his new neighbors, the Munn family. Johns and Frank really infuse that realism in their words and art. It is a solid experience.

Of course, being the first arc, we do not get all of the answers. We get a full story that could stand on its own as-is, but it definitely part of something bigger. These creators and others are setting up their own interconnected comic book universe after all.