In this review of Dead Teenagers #1, Alicia Torres and her friends keep reliving the 1997 prom, which always ends in some kind of tragedy. But can they find some way to break the loop?
Dead Teenagers #1
Writer: Jude Ellison S. Doyle
Artist: Caitlin Yarsky
Main Cover: Naomi Franquiz
Variant Covers: Keyla Valerio, Caitlin Yarsky, Ro Stein
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: March 18, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Dead Teenagers #1 starts on prom night ‘97, and a girl is upset over her boyfriend having gone to a concert with another girl. Fairly typical high school scenario, there. Alicia enters the scene, tells her she’ll live (like always), and seems to be preparing for something….
That “something”? Giant lizard attack in the gym! From there, the main players are introduced, as well as how their fates ultimately tend to play out whenever they’re put through one of these loops. The events of the loops always vary, save for who dies. Alicia’s always the one to survive.
But after this one, she takes a look inside of the gym and sees a hooded figure lurking around. Well, that’s new to her.
Next loop, they discuss what to do to try and break the loop, as Alicia wonders about this new development. This next loop ends with a drunk driving incident, and the figure turns up again.
From there, they try to figure out a way to bring this variable into play again. A gas leak explosion ends that loop.
As they keep trying and trying, with the number of loops reaching the quintuple digits, JT (the one that always dies in a particularly brutal manner) throws out his MIT application. Alicia tries to talk some sense into him; he claims that it doesn’t matter anyway, but she points out that he’d done that before the loops even began.
But their conversation comes to an end when Alicia, after 11,000 or so instances of being the Final Girl, is stabbed in the back and killed.
Cut to the 2020s. Scenario #11,300: Adulthood. JT, Brandy (who had always been the first casualty), Ryder (initially Alicia’s boyfriend, had always died in a heroic way, and now married to Brandy), and Morgan (JT’s boyfriend that’d always died in hiding and has never been seen on-panel yet) have all survived. So, what now?
Alternate timelines…it’s always fun to see how different stories play with those. And with Dead Teenagers #1, the writer definitely had some fun with the scenarios that lead to ruin. We’ve got your plausible end scenarios, like drunk driving and an explosion related to a gas leak, alongside some crazier fare (mutant virus and mannequins). It’s a good balance.
I’m liking how the characterization in Dead Teenagers #1 is handled, as well. Alicia’s the narrator, so we already get to know her as a fairly rational person, wanting to get to the bottom of what’s been going on. With JT, Brandy, and Ryder, someone can tell a fair bit about each of them simply from the Polaroids (which definitely help cement the 90s setting) used to introduce them. Brandy’s shows her happy, with a pyramid of party cups behind her. Definitely establishes her as a party girl of the era.
Between the portraits, Alicia’s narration, and the dialogue, we get a good idea of who these kids are and how they’re handling what is quite frankly, kind of a twisted thing for anyone to go through (let alone people that aren’t officially of legal drinking age yet).
As for JT… He’s shown getting first prize in a science fair, though he dresses like the kind of guy one might call a slacker. He’s all but stated to be giving up on himself having a future even before dying over 10000 times.
Another thing I’d seen in his picture: an infinity symbol on a CD jewel case. Every so often, we see a video game continue screen, with the infinity symbol right there. Which makes me wonder if JT has something to do (possibly inadvertently) with the time loop issue in the first place.
Though I’m also wondering about JT’s boyfriend Morgan. Morgan is never seen on the page. Ever. He’s conspicuously 1) hiding during his death, 2) not even seen when he’s reached adulthood, though the director’s chair with him name on it indicates that he’s working in film/television.
I won’t rule out the possibility of this hooded figure being either Morgan or an alternate-timeline JT who’d somehow caused the loops to happen and may be trying to put an end to them.
The artwork in Dead Teenagers #1 works well for it. It’s got a fun stylization to it, and the color scheme for these time loops feels very late 90s and, like the Polaroids, definitely helps sell that setting, as does the décor in the room this group’s hanging out in. The lava lamp, old-school computer, and Spice Girls poster totally hit the ol’ nostalgia button.
When the survivors wake up in the 2020s, I’m wondering just how much they’d know about the decades between ‘97 and the Age of the Covid Testing. On the one hand, they do seem a bit surprised upon waking. Particularly Brandy and Ryder, who could be either feeling a disturbance in the natural order or shocked that they’re in the same bed; with alternate timeline shenanigans, either one of those feels possible.
Final Thoughts
Feeling like a blend of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” with a dash of the “Happy Death Day” movies, Dead Teenagers #1 is definitely entertaining. It sets up an intriguing scenario, all while bringing the sort of wit that was a hallmark of the late 90s.
