When Mark Millar launches a new series usually the entire comic industry pays attention. We don’t know why since he’s really slow about delivering the rest of the series, but those first issues fly like paper airplanes from a Disney short. Anyway, the participating writers from Comic Bastards will each give their opinion about MPH and a score, but before that he’s what the book is about from Image: When a group of hard-luck teens in Motor City stumble upon a street drug called MPH, they gain the power of super speed. Will they use it to save the world? Hell no! Not when there’s dolla, dolla bills to be had, y’all. A high-octane urban adventure, MPH brings you super speed like you’ve never seen before! This launch features a variant cover by Jock, a blank cover variant, and a special series of linked cover variants by Fegredo showcasing the book’s cast.

Adam: 5/5

This first issue of MPH is the most interested I’ve been in a debut issue since the Deadly Class #1.  Now that might not sound like a huge compliment but we all read a lot of comics here at Comic Bastards and that’s almost 5 months’ worth of new releases.  So yeah, I’m pretty excited for how this book will turn out.  I love how explosively the issue starts out and then slowly unravels different details that will play a part in the future of the story.  The scenes where the MPH drug is taking effect were really interesting-I think anyone would love to have that power for even a few moments at some point in their life.  Overall, I think this book is trying to do something different and succeeds in doing so.

Erik: 5/5

I’m really glad that I didn’t read the synopsis before I opened MPH #1. Because honestly, if I had, I wouldn’t have been intrigued by it at all. I just saw Millar’s name at the top and thought, “well it can’t be completely awful”. And I was right, but more in the terms of “woah”. I honestly just can’t wait to read more of it. While fanning through, I felt like I was the one on a superhuman acid trip. This seems like it’s going to be a book where things start tumbling down, and don’t let up until nothing is left standing. And man, what about that opening. That was some pretty “edge of your seat” stuff. I was a little disappointed with how abruptly it ended, but I get it. Maybe I was disappointed with the ending so much because I just didn’t want it to end. “...didn’t want want it to end” sounds like a pretty good pull quote to me (insert winkey face here). This is a great read, folks. And Millar seems to have hit a new prime.

Dustin: 3/5

I really enjoyed this issue. I feel it’s one of the best new series from Millar, but mostly because of Fegredo’s artwork. I’m still giving it an average score because it just didn’t hit that peak for me. The opening was useless, the set up to get our main character in prison was predictable and the means to his escape even more so. What was interesting was his dialect and yes a bit of that is his dialogue. Whatever the main character was saying, however annoying it could have been, something about it wasn’t. I believed that this was a real person talking and that is something that has been lacking from a Millar script for quite some time.

Fegredo’s art was fantastic and it was interesting to see him on a superhero book after being on Hellboy. I’d rather see more Hellboy out of him so I hope that this series doesn’t catch the big two’s eye as they will surely try to swoop up his talent. He gives this story personality that’s for sure. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. I will be back to check out the rest of the series though.

Kevin: 2/5

Millar’s MPH has potential to peek interest but it’s ever so slight. The name is corny and presentation of the protagonist is lack luster. It’s hard to care about a boob that believes in vision boards while exuding gullibility. Throw in a slew of cliché supporting characters from the drug pusher, doppy law enforcement and throw in cooler than cool speedster Dad. All of it is just feels “meh” so far. On the plus side Fegredo’s art is nice even if the colors feel drab.

Writer: Mark Millar Artist: Duncan Fegredo Publisher: Image/Millarworld Price: $2.99 Release Date: 5/21/14 Format: Mini-Series, Print/Digital