Buckhead

BOOM!; $14.99

Buckhead introduced Toba and his mom, who have just moved to Washington from Lagos where his father had disappeared. On the first day of school, Toba made friends with Josue and a few other kids, who then found a virtual reality game in a hidden area of the school. Making it even stranger, Toba recognizes someone inside the game. After that, he starts noticing weird marks on people, shady figures around town, a mysterious girl shows up – and that’s just in the first two issues.

The Buckhead trade paperback collects issues 1-5. The comic by Shobo and artist George Kambadais is like an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark or The Twilight Zone junior. The situation is weird and unsettling, but not so convoluted that it’s confusing. The creative team keeps things moving at a good pace and there’s enough exposition to clarify just enough while leaving plenty of suspense for successive issues.

–Amanda Sheriff