Stuart Moore and Gus Storms' "EGOs" #1 is ballsy and super fun with plenty of edge as it takes superheroes and sci-fi, grabs them by the lapels and throws them out on the street, but all in love. This is a great mix of superheroes and sci-fi that feels smart and new and I cannot wait to see where they go from here.

The concept by Moore -- a former superhero setting up a new team to save the universe 20 years after his glory days -- is strong overall, but it's the voice Moore presents that is so fantastic and compelling. Right out of the gate, Moore makes what can only be a humorous riff on "Planetary," and the whole book feels similarly bold. The voice is incredibly confident for a first issue, blending exactly the right sense of humor and tone to convince readers that the book is assertive in its identity and direction, and that readers should absolutely hold on for the ride.

Moore does a great job of using typical exposition tropes and subverting them ever so slightly to his advantage. In other words, he uses all the narrative exposition in the world to get his story out there, but then basically draws attention to what he's doing, makes fun of it, and then continues on his way, devil may care. It's clever and highly enjoyable.

The world building is impossibly strong thanks to both Moore and artist (and colorist) Gus Storms. For his part Storms visuals are a nice blend of what we expect in superhero books but with an indie twist that works well for the overall subversive tone of the book thus far. It looks a little bit like your average superhero book was thrown into a blender with something more like "Prophet" and the results are both smart and fun. Storms is a considered and confident artist (a good match for Moore's writing) and his world-building is strong from tip to tail. Some of it is more basic and restrained, but that's not necessarily a bad thing and when the story calls for him to cut loose -- like in his depiction of Masse (and Top Quark) -- he goes nuts to great effect. One of the biggest strengths here is just consistency. Introducing a new world full of characters (and a lot of characters are introduced) calls for a consistency that a lot of artist's just can't handle. Not so here, as Storms pulls it off with ease.

"EGOs" takes some really classic superhero tropes, like the building of the "exciting new team!" concept and turns it completely on its head. As a reader, I found myself completely caught up in Moore and Storms "all new team!" before Moore flipped the script and made everything more interesting. It's a talented creative team that can make something as old hat as the "all new team" feel so fun and exciting, but it's a whole other level of creative team that can then throw that excitement out the window simply because they've got something more interesting planned. I simply cannot wait to see what this series has in store.