Written by Curt Pires
Art by Kevin Castaniero
Colors by Jason Wordie
Letters by Micah Myers 
Published by Mad Cave Studios

“In the near future, cancel culture means more than just losing your job…it could mean your life. The world’s premier entertainment event is CANCELLED – a live-streamed program where elite bounty hunters called cancellers kill individuals who society has voted to “cancel” following heinous actions or offenses. Our story follows Roland Endo, the world’s #1 ranked Canceller. Because of this status, Roland lives in a constant state of paranoia with a target on his back…”

What if cancelling someone was a bit more permanent than just being socially shunned? Curt spires expires this idea at such an extreme and entertaining level in You’ve Been Cancelled. If society deems someone as cancelled a hit goes out on their head and very competitive cancellers duke it out to see who will get to kill the target. Roland Endo is the best there is at what he does. And what he does isn’t very nice.

The world being built here feels like a weird apocalyptic future that is also not too far off from reality. That jarring mix captivated me because the fact that this world already kind of exists is both fascinating and terrifying.

One quote really stood out to me in this comic: “The American Dream died kicking and screaming, and while they listened to its death rattle they decided to build something new.” It left my jaw on the floor for a few minutes. There are so many aspects of Roland that people will be able to relate to, such as him dealing with his PTSD – very poorly, while also seeing many unrelateable things too, such as a giant orgy with sex workers. This story (and Roland) packs a punch and will throw you for a loop at the end with a wild plot twist.

All of this world is brilliantly illustrated by Kevin Castaniero and Jason Wordie. Kevin’s lines have such great detail that you will be staring into the backgrounds searching for new things each time you flip through the pages. His finer line style really lends itself to this very well and helps to create this well-developed world.

Jason’s colors are often muted, but when he brings in brighter colors you know something is going down and it drives the action forward. There is one particular splash page towards the end that feels like Jason had a fun time with colors as the color choices here really had to establish tone and tell the story as there was very minimal words and even less fewer lines. Wrapping up the team is Micah Meyers on letters, which are fantastic as always. Micah knows when to go outside the box and have a ton of fun versus when the lettering is conveying that more serious tone.

If you’re a fan of action stories, taking down bad people in society or Guns Akimbo, then you’ll love this story.

Rating: 9/10

You’ve Been Canceled #1 will be out June 7, 2023!