Whereas the beginning of The Holy Roller #6 had me worried, issue #7’s intro left me feeling super jazzed. Because after the writers — Rick Remender, Joe Trohman, and Andy Samberg — seemingly struggled with adequately applying humor across this title, it seemed like we’d finally reached a Very Serious Moment. Which made sense as Levi is having to save his beloved hometown from neo-Nazis who’ve unfurled an app that makes everyone go a purgin’.
The only issue, then, is that said promise didn’t last very long, and that rather serious threat was once more overpowered by the endless bowling ball-sized puns and slightly hackeyed jokes. But this far along into the story — there’s just two issues left! — it’s worth pausing the game to see how things feel now and how they’re actually trending toward the positive.
Because, yes, I’ve always had an issue with this book’s sense of humor, and how it sometimes felt too much to the point of being forced. But here, as Levi, Jamal, and a special surprise new hero squabble back and forth about super suits and sidekick status, I think the humor finally resonates in a really important way. Sure, it can still feel a little much at time, but that’s alright if it’s about letting these characters engage and work through stress and fears as their city literally tears itself apart.
This humor hasn’t always been so grounded across this book, but now that it’s about informing and extending something larger, something more serious and significant, it feels easier to embrace. We’re laughing nervously or awkwardly because we don’t know what’s going to happen as Levi has to shut down the signal. Or, if everyone’s feeling prepared to face their actual neighbors (even the shitty racists ones) to save the day. The book’s tried very much to be about everyday heroism and how we all must step up, and I think this is the issue where those ideas and energies finally and fully align.
And it goes even deeper still. There’s a point at the end of the issue where, without spoiling too much, Levi confronts what I’ve been calling Holographic Hitler, who is basically the mascot of the town’s neo-Nazi group and the purveyor of their violent app. In and of itself, the character is a serious threat turned into a joke, which is what a lot of this issue did really well and which has clearly been a goal of this book for some time.
The whole gimmick actually works to facilitate an especially serious and intense moment for Levi to close out issue #7, and while I won’t spoilt that either, it’s a moment that pulls all the air out of the room. It’s the coup de grace for this entire issue, and a realization of what happens when this book not only finds a balance within itself but also uses humor as a tool for both expressing emotionality and controlling your readers. It’s the first time humor really and fully worked here, and it drew us in only to finally cut us truly and deeply. The whole issue, then, felt like one massive effort to confront and manipulate, and more than just being “properly serious,” it was as if the creators were engaging with us openly and honestly. And when they do, there’s a power and heart that really shines in this book.
Variant cover to ‘The Holy Roller’ #7 by Moreno Dinisio. Courtesy of Image Comics.
Perhaps as a side effect of all of this, the newly-expressed levels of charm and prowess make a really obvious bit of social commentary — apps and social media are the devil! — seem interesting enough. Despite how obvious it seems, the book nonetheless has the commitment and intent to stick the landing. And that’s not only because of the narrative developments in this issue but very much the ongoing work of artist Roland Boschi and colorist Moreno Dinisio.
As they’ve done in the other six issues, the duo made bowling ball-related violence seem brutal and still wholly stylish; in this issue, we get even more gore and general mayhem, including an opening scene that’ll smash your heart. Except that it’s also a really solid example of this book combining heart, humor, and mayhem into a tasty gumbo that is meant to engage and upset on a few different levels. And there’s more of that still across this issue, too, these instances where the art manages that same kinds of feats, but piggybacking off some newfound sense of purpose and cohesion, things just resonate all that more profoundly. (I’m thinking of the introduction of our new hero as well as Levi’s actual journey up the tower.)
Yet none of that quite compares to the ending scene I’d already mentioned, and how that not only plays out from a narrative standpoint but also how it just looks and feels. Again, without spoiling too much, it’s a rather bare-bones instance for an art team whose developed this really vivid and lively world (again, like a super silly Tromaville or something). But from that “minimalist” approach, they can focus on translating the humor and absurdity in a way that feels deeply effective in its tone, flexibility, and overall efficiency just before it sticks it to the reader collectively.
It’s a clear cut example of the art team also manipulating us, and doing so in a way that feels meaningful because it’s a proper step up. A slightly more enthusiastic way (in an already enthusiastic book) to get us feeling like things are fully happening, and we’re right there to experience them all. It’s not just sizzle and flash and wonderful blood galore anymore, but an effort by this book to lean into its stakes and make its work really sizzle already.
This whole start/stop, good/bad leading to bad/good thing is pretty par for the course for The Holy Roller. It’s been a great book not because it’s always nailed the humor perfectly or even that it’s just an interesting process. Rather, you can tell this book is deeply alive in almost every way, and even if things go “wrong,” it’s hard to fault the sheer emotion and care the team has for telling a rather complicated book about some universal ideas on family, community, and our shared duties (and also dick and fart jokes).
But I’m glad issue #7 proves that The Holy Roller is ready to end with more intensity and cohesion, and to give us not just a solid, funny book but something that’s not afraid to be dumb, earnest, bloody, and intentional in every way that matters. Let’s get that final frame, fellas!
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