Chariot

Chariot #1-5

by Bryan Edward Hill, Priscilla Petraites (Illustrator), Marco Lesko (Color Artist)

The Chariot was a Cold War-era secret government project to provide its star agent with a weapon unlike any other in the form of a super-charged muscle car. It sank into the ocean decades ago, and the agent along with it. Now, a petty criminal looking to reform his life has stumbled upon the Chariot, and he’s about to find out that the agent’s consciousness is still controlling it in this synthwave thriller.

Genres: Comics

112 pages, Paperback

Published November 2, 2021

About the author

Bryan Hill is a screenwriter, photographer, tv writer, and director. He is known for his work on the DC show TITANS and for his work in comics, most notably his outings on DETECTIVE COMICS, POSTAL, AMERICAN CARNAGE, KILLMONGER and ANGEL.
His writing is infused with esoteric principles, which can also be found in his photography and music.
He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christine meets Knight Rider. An assassin's consciousness is merged with a car. Forty years later, a driver finds the car starting a cascading chain of events. The assassin's sister who is also an assassin wants the secret to her sister's immortality and goes after them. She also has some technology that de-ages her for short periods of time. There's just way too many ideas stuffed into this short series.

The star here is the art. The art and coloring give off this 80's synthwave vibe that I loved. It was like a trip back to an 80's action movie.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A guy named Jim is down on his luck and he salvages parts and owes the wrong people money to pay for his sons treatment when suddenly he gets this car which has like an AI named Gillian and together they heist and even go so extreme ways and when Delia (Gillians sister) and the police are after them, things will be revealed that will change their lives for the better maybe and even have some secrets about who the people are who are after his chariot.

Great book and its a very fast paced read and the action is amazing and I love the art, each page so well drawn and the women look so hot but the car even better. It was amazing plus the whole nature of Jim from personality to motivations and everything and the ending leaves some room for sequel so excited to read it if it happens. High recommend.

[A.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fine AWA book that’ll probably be a better movie than a comic.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just Ok. There is this car that was pulled out of a lake or ocean. The main character, Jim, is trying to fix it up when he finds out it’s alive. This car may be the answer the the major problem he has going on right now. However, the history surrounding the car is now trying to make things difficult for him. The book moves fast and there are some fantastical things that take place without much explanation. The plot was kind of simple and they don’t really dig into it to make this more interesting.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Supermáquina foi um seriado megapopular nos anos 1980 quando eu era uma criança bem pequeninha. Era estrelado pelo Tom Selleck, se não me engano, que tinha um automóvel inteligente e que falava com ele. Usar essa referência num quadrinho atual pode ter sido um tiro no pé, porque poucos farão essa relação. A Supermáquina era um dos brinquedos que mais tive: três, mas pra mim era só um carrinho de fricção, só fui concatenar uma coisa com a outra muito mais velho. Digressão feita, Chariot é um quadrinho megadivertido, com roteiros bem estruturados e uma arte sensacional. E um protagonista gatinho, porque ninguém é de ferro (talvez a Chariot). É uma trama cheia de ação e cheia de mistérios e suspense que, aos poucos vão se revelando para o leitor. E sim, acaba sendo uma baita referência aos anos 1980 porque a mulher que é fundida com Chariot acha que ainda está vivendo aquela época - assim como muitos leitores de quadrinhos que tem valores e pensamentos de quarenta anos atrás. Um quadrinho que vale a pena você dar uma chance, seja você um jovem ou alguém que nem se lembra dos 80s como eu, ou ainda alguém mais velho que vai captar todas as referências.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always appreciate hot artwork. It sometimes makes up for a mediocre story. Which is not to say the story is bad here. In fact, it's quite fun. It's an introduction to some more adventures, but already the potential is there. Cool car, hot characters, some nice mechanics, over the top driving and just a fun time. This story deservess a sequel or more.

Jim is an ex con, but he has a good heart. He wants to help his son whose kidneys aren't doing their job, but that means getting money from some shady individuals. They want their loan back, even if they need to rough Jim up. As a side note, Jim works on dismantling cars for a living. His boss allows him to work on his own project if he can fix it. He stumbles onto a car that looks like a prototype. It is in reality the Chariot, possessed by the spirit of its former (hot AF) owner who now runs over the bad guys attacking Jim.

The car's ghost is named Gillian. She has been attached to the car for 40 years. She offers to help Jim in exchange for a new body. Gillian's sister Delia (old, but reconstituted by a machine into her own young and hot AF body) wants the Chariot in order to become immortal as a digitized being. She finds Jim and promptly throws him out a window to the pavement 30 stories below. The chariot saves him. When the cops show up, he makes his getaway and brings down a police helicopter with the chariot's miniguns. Yeah, miniguns.

Delia kidnaps Jim's son to draw Jim out. Gillian trains him in the digital landscape where time flows much slower. They also have time for some digital fun. Gillain might just keep him after this is over. Jim's fight with Delia is done mostly from behind the steering wheel. She is too weak by the end and her body reverts to its original old self as she dies.

Jim decides to target Delia's employers who still want the chariot, though this means he won't be near his family until his mission is over.

[Marcelo Soares · Rating 2 out of 5]

É bacaninha.
Claro que lembra a Supermáquina, o seriado dos anos 80 e seus remakes, mas me lembrou mesmo A Aparição, filme de quinta categoria que passava na TV sobre um carro mal assombrado em busca de vingança. Ainda que o carro - a carruagem - seja um daqueles mistérios da ciência impossível dos quadrinhos; a cor, as luzes de neon bagaceiras e, claro, todos os assassinatos que o carro repetem me trazem as memórias mais do filme do que da série. Provavelmente existam outras referências que eu nem pesquei direito.
A história é aquela coisa básica, um perdedor que entende de mecânica, encontra um carro misterioso num galpão do dono do ferro velho e resolve consertar o troço para ver qual é. Como toda história precisa de um pouco de drama, o cara tem um filho que tem câncer, uma ex que acha que ele é inútil - errada, ela não tá - e uma dívida com os criminosos locais - obviamente, ele é um ex-presidiário; afinal ele parece latino e todo latino tem que ter sido preso numa história americana.
A arte lembrou bastante a Image, particularmente algumas edições de Danger Girl, e o colorido dá um ar bem modernoso, tipo gibizinho indie da Image.
No geral, se tu consegue desligar o botão de descrença, colocar um rockzinho noventeiro no som, dá pra curtir de boa, mas sem pensar muito no que tá acontecendo.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really should be described in one of those high concept television pitch meetings. The ones I bet the standard broadcast networks still have.

"You know how everyone is rebooting, bringing back old shows. So, we bring back Knight Rider, but the AI is a woman. Oh, yeah and the driver is flawed, not super perfect like Michael Knight was."

Now you read the above and think I really disliked the title. Nope, it was a fun, well paced action read. The AI is actually a deceased woman's brain patterns (my term) downloaded into a super car's memory. The driver is a sometimes getaway driver, looking for a big score to deal with his son's medical costs (and he's on the outs with the ex, aka the boy's mother).

There is nothing wrong in taking some common tropes and knowing how to put them together to tell an entertaining story. Hill does that here.

Things are left open ended enough for more.

note: as always full disclosure read as digital floppies.

[Maraya21 (The Reading Dragon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Lucas Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, man. A nice story by Bryan, a clean art by Priscila and some beautiful nice covers that really brought the feeling of the 80's thar our creators tried to bring.

The story is action packed Chrstine movie, where our guy Jim found and restored a car, that actually is a weapon, and have the mind of his last driver, Gillian.

Good characters, good development, good motivations and good fight scenes. It is a really short book, but really makes you care about everyone really fast. Another good shot from AWA.

[Rob Schamberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it’s because I just watched a bunch of AIRWOLF but this was hella fun to read.

[Andrew Sorrentino · Rating 3 out of 5]

One write up suggested this is Knight Rider meets The Matrix. So some familiar ideas, but amplified. Eye popping artwork. If they do another volume, I would check it out.

[Kurt Lorenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should 100% become a series. Had some serious Knight Rider vibes but with amped up 80s neon and future tech battles. Please give me more!

[Gustavo Saraiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I read while listening to a Synthwave playlist on YouTube. Gotta tell ya that I enjoyed a lot.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was weird, crazy, exciting, and silly all in one package and I really enjoyed it.

Jim, a criminal out on his luck trying to gather enough money to help his family, especially his daughter who is sick. When he almost gets killed by the people he asks for money/help, a car comes in and saves him. That's right, a car with no driver. Because it's inside the car a woman lives, somehow getting trapped inside a cybernetic world years and years ago. Soon Jim teams up with her on a espionage spy mission insanity.

Sounds crazy, right? It very much is and very much fun. The art is slick with style and the dialogue is tight as always from Bryan Edward Hill. I can't comment enough how over the top this is and silly without a doubt but it makes it a blast to read. Snappy and good moving paced story with great art. Don't take it too serious, and go for a drive!

A 4 out of 5.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning art and story

Stunning art and story, hopefully there will be a vol 2. Eager for more in this series. I loved it.