You plan and plan for that one inevitable God forsaken day when the shit hits the fan. You buy the supplies, you stock the bunkers and you horde the guns. All the while waiting for the moment you can show all the naysayers that they were wrong and you were right. But sometime, it isn’t that easy. Image’s Sheltered #1 is kind of like that. Inside the remote camp/compound of New Haven, a group of militant families reside inside. Daughter to one family Victoria Eckersley (or Vic) now back from fetching supplies, begins to unload them with her father to fill their underground bunker. Then later she can go and meet up with her friend Hailey and rendezvous later for a welcome back for nip from the ol’ flask Hailey borrowed from her family.

Meanwhile, Lucas and Joey, more camp teens ask Mr. Dave Eckersley for his ham radio. He obliges and explains that even though the camp has a long way to grow, if anything were to happen the camp could sustain itself for a lest a year and a half.

Later on the boys check on the recent activities of earthquakes that could be detrimental to them and their camp. While continuing to unload supplies, Dave meets up with another camp resident, Mr. Sawchuk who complains about the fact that they need to file for permits to improve the camp. If they do that it will put them on the government’s radar.  The two men debate the pros and cons until the sound of a gunshot interrupts them both.

When they go to inspect the noise they are informed by the teens that men are trying to invade the camp and they have already killed a fellow camp member by the name of Greg. In retaliation, the adults gear up looking to face their attackers but when they realize what’s going on, they get more than they bargained for.

I plan to keep this short and vague in order to make the actual read of the book more interesting for you, the reader. Because if you didn’t pick this book up on Wednesday then you should stop reading this review right now and go back to you LCS and buy this book. It’s cool, I’ll wait.

Back are you? Good. Now read it. Yeah I’ll still be here.

Okay so what did you think of Sheltered #1? It’s a pretty interesting read right? Sure it starts off slow and sprinkles characters that really don’t blow you away but it carefully lays down the ground work for the epic shit storm that will brew in the wake of the actions that took place. To me that’s what really matters. The characters and their complexities will come as everyone finds their voices and roles in the camp.

I’m almost giddy with all the possibilities that this narrative could go. I literally had three different endings already running in my mind as I read this. That’s what really gets me stoked on a book when it makes me want more before I’m even done.

In case there were any writers out there looking to layout and execute a “high concept” idea like Sheltered, make sure you nab a talent like Johnnie Christmas to make your world come to life and follow the blueprint that this comic’s first issue has set. Easy right?

Score: 5/5

Writer: Ed Brisson

Artist: Johnnie Christmas

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $2.99

Release Date: 7/10/13