YOU’VE BEEN CANCELLED #1 – Comic Review

YOU’VE BEEN CANCELLED #1, from Mad Cave Studios on 6/7/23, takes the social media concept to a dystopic level when a future bounty hunter hunts the ‘cancelled’ for Internet entertainment. But what happens when the tables turn?

The Details

• Written by: Curt Pires
• Art by: Kevin Castaniero
• Colors by: Jason Wordie
• Letters by: Micah Myers
• Cover art by: Kevin Castaniero
• Comic Rating: Mature
• Cover price: $4.99
• Release date: June 7, 2023

Is It Good?

YOU’VE BEEN CANCELLED #1 is the kind of comic best enjoyed if you’re up to speed on social media trends and current culture developments while slyly making you wish you didn’t know what any of those trends and developments are because they hit a little too close to home. Curt Pires’s story about cancel culture taken to a preposterous extreme is the satirical dystopia you didn’t know you needed.

Set in the year 2050, Pires’s story focuses on an Internet game show, Cancelled, wherein criminals (decided on by popular vote) are hunted for sport. Roland, the game’s top hunter ruthlessly pursues targets day after day until a glitch (or is it a hack?) puts Roland on the defensive.

If the story sounds familiar, you’d be correct. It’s the cancel culture version of The Running Man, told from the hunter’s perspective. Where Pires’s story separates itself is in the pathos assigned to Roland as a cynical, scarred man who spends more time running from his personal demons than his prey runs to escape Roland’s wrath. The biting wit is still present, particularly in the over-the-top violence, and Pires’s ripped-from-the-headlines take on the Cancelled is hilarious (or sad, if you prefer), so the comparisons to The Running Man are obvious but stop once you look past the superficial.

At first glance, Kevin Castaniero’s stylized art might look familiar, and you’d be correct if you read comics from Scout and know their stellar backwoods, redneck, monster hunter series GRIT. Admittedly, Castaniero’s stylized art always projects a sense of movement and energy, but the distorted anatomies take a little getting used to. That said, Castaniero’s style has an edge that fits Pires’s wit perfectly.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with an episode of Cancelled in progress. Roland, the game’s top hunter, tracks down and eliminates a disgraced Hollywood mogul voted to be guilty of sexual misconduct. Roland cancels the mogul with extreme prejudice and takes out any competitors who get in his way.

Later, Roland engages in all manner of sex and drugs to drown out the horrors of his former military service. When the night of partying ends, Roland accepts his next bounty – a pharma executive guilty of inflating prices on a life-saving drug. Before Roland can cancel his latest prey, he hears a strange signal in his earpiece.

We conclude the issue with blackouts, hacks, and new targets.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.

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