In this comic book review of Kilroy Is Here #1, Kilroy is offered one hell of an opportunity to get his curse lifted.
Kilroy Is Here #1
Writer: Joe Pruett
Art and Main Cover: Dalibor Talajić
Variant Cover: Brian Bolland
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: April 1, 2026
We open Kilroy Is Here #1 on a murder scene, with a guy writing a message on the wall in blood. He’s soon joined by Kilroy, who sees his own signature of “Kilroy was here” scrawled on the wall in blood. It was all specifically to lure him there. He calls the killer out for framing him. But the killer changes the “was” to “is” for the sake of immediacy, and then calls Kilroy himself delusional and self-pitying.
Kilroy soon realizes that what he’s dealing with is an Angel, who says that he’ll make him an offer next time they meet.
Meanwhile, Camille is on the way inside with her groceries and is annoyed to see that Kilroy is, indeed, here. The murder scene’s gone viral, and he clarifies that this wasn’t his doing. After they discuss how death seems to follow his every move, he heads to the church.
He speaks to someone there, wishing to know more about his curse and telling him about the frame job, how he’d wanted to kill the guy that did it…and that he knows that he’s speaking to another Angel, and that it was his fallen twin.
The Angel makes him an offer: he’ll remove Kilroy’s curse if he kills the fallen Angel Barbatos and his two hundred or so followers. He agrees to this, and is soon given his purpose once again.
Camille is trying to sleep, when Barbatos shows up. However, Kilroy is also there, and declares that Camille is under his protection. Barbatos figures out what had to have happened, and informs him that a war is coming, he’ll have to choose a side, and he’d do best to pick the right side. But instead, Kilroy gets a hold of Barbatos’s weapon, cuts him in half, and decides he’s going to preserve life. He leaves a message in Angel blood, ensuring that his targets would be able to see it.
When I’d read Kilroy Is Here #1, my primary thought about it was that it definitely had the vibes of a nineties anti-hero comic. As I looked at the creator’s note at the end, I’d learned that the character of Kilroy had come about in the early 90s. And there’s just something I can appreciate about someone revisiting their oldest character and presenting them to a new generation of readers. So, a big fan of that aspect.
With Kilroy Is Here #1 being a reintroduction of a pre-existing comic, I’m thinking they did an excellent job at reestablishing him for the uninitiated. It was easy enough to pick up on what this guy’s all about. That said, still planning to check out some of the earlier work with this character for curiosity’s sake.
I’d also noticed the just-about-monochrome nature of the artwork. The best use of that was definitely in the opening scene, where everything’s washed in blue…save for all of the blood and Barbatos’s coat. That red still has a slight cool tone to it, but it still stands out nicely against the blue.
The first time we get anything approaching full color is when Camille shows up on the scene. The whole sequence in her apartment leans more toward the warm end of the spectrum, feeling like an indication that as dark as Kilroy’s whole existence is, she’s a point of light for him. Even if she’d rather that weren’t the case.
The use of primary colors here is exceptional, keeping things moody and dark without going too dark.
At this point, the reader gets to look forward to Kilroy making good on his end of the Angel-killing deal with a flaming sword. I, for one, am eager to see what comes next.
Final Thoughts
With this debut of the new Kilroy Is Here series, it’s safe to say that Kilroy is back. It does an effective job at bringing an anti-hero of the early nineties into a new era, with a particular sense of sincerity.
