Bronze age Boogie from Ahoy Comics (Wrong Earth, Captain Ginger) is first and foremost a love letter, not to a particular genre of entertainment, but an entire decade’s worth! Stuart Moore (Batman: Noir Alley) and a talented art team hit the ground running in an explosive and visually rich opening issue.

Publisher: Ahoy Comics
Writer: Stuart Moore
Artist: Alberto Ponticelli, Colours: Giulia Brusco, Letters: Rob Steen
Price: £2.49 from ComiXology

The story begins in 1975, with the world on the brink of disaster, as the head of a secret organisation (who just so happens to be an ape) sets a plan in motion to fend off an unseen invasion. We’re then swiftly flung back some 3,949 years to 1975 BC where a young warrior, Brita, and her people are in the midst of battle with undead legions – There’s immediately something different about Brita, from the rest of her people, and it’s not just her ability to use modern grammar.

The pacing of the book Is heavily influenced by its action beats, but by no means scrimps on deeper story content. When a pause is taken to offer some exposition, it is delivered with a style and humour in keeping with the book’s overall premise, and avoids feeling too drawn out. While those who crave gritty realism and relatable stakes may need to look elsewhere, the deliberate tongue in cheek tone the story carries promotes the suspension of disbelief, and there’s clearly greater depth and more surprises to be uncovered here as the series continues.

Visually, the art team: Alberto Ponticelli, Giulia Brusco have produced a stunning looking book. The character design in particular, given the range of disparate genres, is very strong with characters from differing time periods, suitably contrasting, while never feeling out of place. Larger images and battles (in both 1975s presented) never back away from either crowd or background detail, giving rise to some especially spectacular action panels.

Given that crossing just two genres, from a technical standpoint alone, can be challenging – Combining Disco, Apes, Swords and Sorcery, Cosmic adventure and Kung Fu may sound like an insurmountable task. Yet, both in terms of the written and visual story telling on display in this first issue of Bronze age Boogie, it can indeed be done, and well!

With so much set up in the opening chapter, the true measure of the series will be seen with future issues. As long as the team can maintain the visual quality being delivered, and can build upon and pay off some of the excellent potential this could be very satisfying and enjoyable piece of sci-fi / action / fantasy / disco / comedy.

While Bronze Age Boogie itself is a full-length single-issue story, as a value add, the issue also comes with additional pages of narrative content. The most notable of which is a charming, comic short titled Major Ursa: Written by Tyrone Finch, Art by Mauricet, Colours by Lee Loughridge & Letters by Rob Steen. This additional content fits sympathetically with the tone of the main story and certainly adds to an already compelling case to check out this new series.