Vault Comics brings us Mall, a new series from writers Michael Moreci and Gary Dauberman, with issue #1 hitting the stands on August 28. While the story is set in familiar surroundings — a dystopian society formed from a tense cooperative of scavengers, rovers and gangs rebuilding as best they can in the aftermath of a disaster — all of these groups are using a mall as their home base, and dealing with the space and resources issues that can cause makes for some interesting conflicts to explore.

Add into this environment a power struggle and what could be a travesty of justice, and you have the jumping-off point of a story that’s part investigation, part retribution, part exploration and a strong beginning to a new dystopian myth.

Our main character, Andre Walker, is the son of a gang leader, and grew up in the aftermath of the world we know ending in fires. The people he knows have been inside the mall so long, the stories of what happened are no longer clear, and no one has gone outside in recent memory. To everyone inside, going outside is certain death… and an effective punishment deterrent.

When he wakes up next to the dead body of a rival gang leader, with no memory of what happened other than the certainty that he didn’t kill anyone, Andre knows he needs to stay alive and convince anyone who will listen that he’s innocent, in the hopes of surviving and also preventing a gang war inside the Mall.

The questions we are left with are: what really happened to Andre, why he might be targeted for a frame up, who the mysterious warrior he teams up with, and what exists outside the walls of the Mall. These questions and more have me wanting to keep reading this story, and I look forward to more.

The art is very action-oriented, making it easy to follow and helping pull the reader through the story, and keeping the panels bright while telling such a potentially dark story is delightful. The balance of light and tension in the story is matched by the same in the artwork, and the multitude of characters are distinct and colorful in their own individual crazy ways.

“Mall” is primed to set a new high mark for post-apocalyptic dystopias…can’t wait to read more!

Issue #2 is slated for September 25, 2019

Writers: Michael Moreci, Gary Dauberman
Artist: Zak Hartong
Colorists: Addison Duke
Letterers: Jim Campbell

Vault Comics: Mall
Twitter: @thevaultcomics