Review By Larry Stanley

Alan Grant has been the sort of writer that I have liked almost every thing he has done. Which really surprises me, since I only hit that one with maybe two other living creators.
Keith Giffen is the sort of Comic Book creator you either love or hate. For me, it has always been a bit of both. Yes, confusing I know. Some of his stuff has just struck me as not that good, some of it just never struck a chord with me and some of it I have just loved for the pure fun of it.
Jeremiah Harm falls into that last category; written with the wit we have come to expect from both, with the action and excitement of 2000 AD and the appearance of what should be the blueprint for the next Comic Action Hero.
Harm is serving a prison term on a desolate world in a far distant universe when three of the most dangerous beings in that system (or any other for that matter) escape. Harm is given the job of finding them and bringing them back.
Now, where else would they land except for Earth? Right in the middle of a ghetto filled with gang-bangers and wannabes. "The carnage is going to be massive" will be the first thought that will run through your mind.
Well forget it. Massive is not a big enough term to describe what happens when these four get through with each other and with the people who live around the battleground.
The company title "BOOM!" certainly fits in this book. Moreover, for a small company, they sure have been making an impact in the industry. From Second Wave to the Savage Brothers they are showing a quality that many of the other small press companies needed but were not able to sustain.
And for me, their best book is Jeremiah Harm. Giffen and Grant have created a Comic Book hero that is a combination of good and bad, filled with a sense of the absurd that borders on the macabre, Harm wants nothing more then to do his job and get off the Earth; a planet he thinks in stuck in the Dark Ages and is filled with gun-crazy shoot-em-up doofus and idiots. This is funny, if you read the book and know the punch line.
It turns out that two of our escapees are lovers who want to destroy the Universe and feel they can do this with something called the Primal Shard. The third one is not so set on killing everything, as he is on killing a whole bunch. However, they all want the shard.
This is visual Science Fiction at its best. It puts most of the other stuff out there to shame. No, not all of it but most of the stuff produced by the 'Big Two' could not stand against it.
Frankly, I can't think of one book from 'Them' that could be compared to Jeremiah Harm or that could be matched against it. The art is good, but it takes the most getting used to.
Rael Lyra works well with Giffen and Grant, able to transform their ideas into first class images that, as I said, take some attention from the reader. You almost have to actually -look- at the panel to see all the effort and detail Lyra has put into each one. He has a unique and almost amazing style that fits perfectly here. He fills the characters with attitude and a strong realism that so few other Science Fiction Comics can hope to achieve.
Jeremiah Harm is a good fun, as well as action oriented Comic. Harm is no stranger to violence and killing and almost seems to savor the chance to fight the three criminals. But, he never hesitates to take on the local killers and thugs as well. Sometimes standing side by side with one of the three he was sent to capture.
This is a first class book, a lot of fun and the start of a great character I hope. I would love to see more of Jeremiah in the future. And I can't wait to see how this story ends.