Next week Knock Em Dead #1 comes out and I have been looking forward to this book. As an aspiring comedian myself I was very curious how a horror book based around stand up comedy would work, and boy did this book deliver. Writer Elliot Rahal seems to understand the grind of starting stand up comedy and hitting the open mics each week, and does a great job at adding tons of fun easter eggs for anyone who's familiar with the Chicago comedy scene without it feeling necessary to know the ins and out of it all. After removing myself from the biased opinion I may have had with all of the comedy references I read it again and the second time around I found myself getting lost in the art, Monaco's stylized take on the Chicago redline and other Chicago sceneries was very well done and I can't wait to see more. I had so much fun just reading this book that by the end I was reminded "Oh yeah this is a horror book and things are about to get weird" and honestly that's one of the best feelings I can have about a first issue from an independent comic book. For anyone who likes fun, Chicago, stand up comedy, horror, or just well written comics, definitely check this out next week!