Break the rules, become a monster. The simple plot description for Greg Pak and Diego Galindo‘s latest comic book at BOOM! Studios, Lawful.

Magical meets modern in a walled city with strangely familiar architecture, where two small children with a sense of adventure get a grim reminder of reality…. Because every mistake one makes in this world will cause them to transform into a monster, bit by bit, and in the eyes of society, there’s no distinction between the rules and what’s right! Imperfection breeds monstrous consequences in this urban fantasy adventure with deep social commentary.

Lawful gives us a fresh take on urban fantasy where Greg Pak mixes together elements of magic, adventure and social commentary to give us a unique story. While the plot and characters were well thought out, developed and brought to life, we feel like something was missing from the debut issue. We understood a bit about what was trying to be accomplished, however we felt somethings were still left unexplained and forcing us to figure stuff out. While it’s fun to unravel a story as you read along, we felt what was missing didn’t give us the ability to care for what was happening to our protagonist.

One of the key parts of Lawful that stood out to us was Pak’s ability to give us a comic book story with themes that explore conformity, transformation, and resilience all with an urban fantasy adventure mask.

It’s a testament to the abilities of artist Diego Galindo to allow us readers to actually feel what is happening on each page. Galindo’s action sequence have movement in a static image. They give us perfect expressions on people’s faces that show emotion and allow us to connect with the characters.

Despite our minor criticism of Lawful #1, Greg Pak (Darth Vader, Firefly) and Diego Galindo (Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons ) give us a story where mistakes or even outright rule-breaking lead to growing a paw or scales or a tale is such a unique and wonderful idea for comics that it is hopeful this series will turn into a wonderful collection of comics. Pak is a wonderful writer and any comic in their hands is worth the read.

Lawful #1 hits local comic shops on June 12, 2024 from BOOM! Studios.