9 Months is a great example of why comics rule and why indie comics are so important. There are certain stories that can only be told in the comics medium, and this is one of them. Sure, the story of a pregnant woman who has to kill her gangsta boyfriend to protect her baby might make a good movie, but what are the chances that we’d see it as Jorge Vega actually envisions it? There’s a certain purity to the indie comic, a certain direct connection between the initial intent and the execution. And this is where 9 Months lives.

Thomasina has been hanging out with exactly the type of people that will infuriate her father. But her youthful rebellion has had a very real result: she’s pregnant and the child’s father appears to be a well connected street thug. After Tommy is forced to kill her boyfriend in self-defense, she her boyfriend’s brother, the big boss in the neighborhood, who is angry that his brother is dead, but wants to make sure he gets a niece or nephew out of all this. Tommy is smart enough to realize that once her baby is born, she’s as good as dead.

The pacing on this comic is darn near perfect. The art by Jeff McComsey isn’t flashy, but the storytelling is just dead on. And while Tommy’s friend Bilal might look a bit too much like Alex Wilder from Runaways every character is distinct and easily recognizable, something often lacking in even mainstream books.

This is a phenomenal debut. I’m leaving an awful lot out simply because there’s an awful lot of ground to cover, a testament to how dense this first issue.

Let me put it this way: I got to read this issue for free and I’ll be buying it anyway when it comes out. That’s how good it is and that’s how much it’s deserving of support.

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