Comic Books

‘The Holy Roller’ #1 nearly scores a strike, settles for that spare

The tale of small towns, Judaism, and bowling is off to a solid enough start.

November 21, 2023

I’m of two minds when it comes to celebrities writing comics. If it’s something like The Alternates and Patton Oswalt, it can be proof of how new energies and approaches can make for better comics. But I was still a little apprehensive when it was announced that Andy Samberg and Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman had teamed up with Rick Remender for The Holy Roller. And as it turns out, my doubts are both a touch unfounded and wholly merited in the very same breath.

The idea of the series is simple enough: outcast Levi Cohen returns to visit his ailing dad, David, and must contend with his dual lineage: as a Jew in a shitty small town and a kind of bowling phenomenon. It’s an interesting dynamic for sure; there’s certainly a timeliness to the undercurrent of antisemitism, and marrying it to bowling feels like a novel way to explore some of those same underdog tendencies.

Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast!

But the problem comes with a lot of the execution of the actual story. Aside from the mostly forgivable, decidedly slow-ish start to the the meat of it all (Levi coming home), the bigger issue is the humor. A lot of the jokes here feel like mostly awful outtakes from Hot Rod, and they smack of cheap gimmicks that ultimately make the reader feel more irritated than entertained. And, sure, some of this humor is about setting up this unique world — it almost feels like the Toxic Avenger in terms of building up the over-the-top energies and comic exaggerations that defines this book (and makes it at least theoretically functional).

Courtesy of Image Comics.

But I also think there’s the same gimmicks employed again and again, and jokes that feel like they define interactions and moments as opposed to coloring or enhancing them as intended. I found myself waiting to get through them so we could get to the next part — only to be greeted with more overbearingly hacky jokes about Greenpeace and hippies or smoking pot.

And once the story does drop some of the overt humor and jokes, it’s quite good overall. The stuff with David and Levi is really essential — their relationship is where some humor and general intensity work quite well even as it’s also decidedly wholesome. Plus, it’s where the “Jewish angle” hits its most resonant peak. It’s that dynamic that doesn’t just offer readers some heft to the storyline but it fosters this rich pocket of nuanced emotion and history and context that feels like a proper counter to the endless gags and hokey humor.

It’s that relaxation where I think Remender’s presence feels more overt, and I think I wanted even more of it across the issue to “counter” some of the Samberg-ian comic tendencies that defined much of this debut. I really wanted them integrated a bit more, but I guess if we have to have distinct “parts” like this, it makes for a good book even as it avoids its own sustained potential.

Courtesy of Image Comics.

Of course, there’s other players in this book, and that’s artist Roland Boschi and colorist Moreno Dinisio. And the art team really helped this debut by bridging the gap, as it were, between what this book did well and its more irksome tendencies. In terms of fostering or furthering the humor, the choice to pull from pop culture for the character designs — like Judd Hirsch for David Cohen, or a bowler that looks a lot like a certain John Goodman role — was a way to show some approachable humor without making it feel overwhelmingly annoying.

And just the general style and approach felt like it achieved another solid instance of the Toxic Avenger-esque grit and absurdity. (In fact, it really was the art where that sensibility first truly took root.)

Boschi and Dinisio also made the world feel more textured and layered in their depiction of the city itself, fostering that mix of grim and playfulness in equal measure to further the theme (the decay of modern life and the need for new kinds of people to fight back) while maintaining that steady thread of humor. (I love a proper gag featuring fast food and a synagogue, and the art team’s mostly the reason why that joke lands.) I think the art could have leaned too hard into either direction, and that would’ve thrown off the precarious (albeit unintended?) formula within.

Courtesy of Image Comics.

But ultimately, the art keeps a focus on the weird and relatable, the ugly and the comical in equal measure, and it’s why some of the downside aren’t such downers (and even why the human bits feel all the more sturdy).

It’d be impossible and clearly unfair to blame any issues of this debut on “two of the writers are a comedian and a emo rocker.” But I think there’s still enough blame to go around in terms of how much Samberg and Trohman’s presence affected this issue in some critical ways. As the title exists so far, those issues take away from the momentum of this story and make it a little too overbearing in its attempts to balance a solid narrative direction with too much brevity.

Could this always be the case? I don’t think so, especially if Remender’s “presence” remains increasingly robust. But in the meantime, The Holy Roller is a good enough entry to the celebrities making comics canon, and I’m excited to see how this game really plays out.