The Holy Roller
volume 1 (collects #1-9)
Created by Andy Samberg, Rick Remender, Joe Trohman, and Roland Boschi
with color art by Moreno Dinisio and lettering by Rus Wooton
Image Comics pub date 26-March-2025
Publisher’s Summary:
Everyone was sitting around wondering when ANDY SAMBERG (SNL, Palm Springs) would join super-star writer RICK REMENDER (DEADLY CLASS, LOW) and Fall Out Boy’s multi-talented JOE TROHMAN to write a comic about a vigilante hero who smashes people’s faces with a bowling ball—and everyone’s dreams have come true!
To care for his ailing father, pro bowler Levi Coen [sic] is forced to quit his dream job and return to his hometown, which he soon discovers has been overrun by Neo-Nazis! With only his bowling ball collection to defend himself, Levi becomes THE HOLY ROLLER, a trick bowling ball-wielding superhero battling to liberate his home and bowl a perfect game against crime! Kingpin meets Inglourious Basterds meets Batman (that old chestnut) with equal parts action and humor!
Review:
I should not have been surprised that The Holy Roller is a fully rounded story that’s not a gimmick despite the main hero being themed as a bowler. Some of us remember Mystery Men. I previewed the first issue because there’s plenty of room for more bowling superheroes just as there are thousands with super strength, speed, flight, healing, and high tech gadgets. Gadgets are fun. If you ever took a pause to appreciate the Green Arrow’s collection of arrowheads like the famous boxing glove, you’ll dig The Holy Roller’s gadget bowling balls.
Why I really should not have been surprised that this story is great is because of the creative team. Since there are so many of them, I’m going to refer to the ensemble as “the creative team” rather than copying and pasting all those names. Sometimes too many creators are like the old adage of too many cooks. However these folks came up with a process, they worked together very well as far as the final output goes.
Content Warnings: This story contains anti-semitism, Nazi symbols old and brand new ones, Hitler holograms, graphic bloody fights.
I feel it’s important to note those things because I can recall a comic book where Nazis—the OGs—were getting beaten by heroes on the cover and inside the pages. That’s what the story was about. Beating the bad guys who were the Nazis. There was backlash because seeing those hate symbols can cause genuine physiological reactions in people. It happens to me with red hats and khakis now; and I used to love khakis.
In The Holy Roller, the villains are two-fold: the rich, white, elite who want everything for themselves; and the lower-middle class of followers who call themselves “new-neo-Nazis” to poke fun at how stupid they are.
The Big Bad Villain is Mr. Henry. The little baddies start off as his son, daughter, and the entire brainwashed city glued to their devices. Our reluctant hero is Levi Cohen—one time schoolyard victim, US Marine, and Greenpeace activist. He’s joined by his father, David Cohen, and his childhood best friend, Jamal, who isn’t convinced he should be involved in taking down greedy fascists. They gain another, but I don’t want to spoil it.
Mr. Henry is an evil capitalist who wants to run the city, the country, then the world. His plan is incite a race war through a cell phone app and shilling supplements that have an effect like steroids with immediate roid-rage and insanity.
Roland Boschi designed the logo. Erika Schnatz did the book design. With Dinisio’s perfectly gaudy retro palette of orange, yellow, brown, and peacock blue, readers will be transported to Clovel, Ohio (1986 then 2006) where no one has remodeled or updated their decor in over 20 years.
Summary:
Protagonist Levi Cohen eschews his father’s wishes to hold on to traditions, faith, and even being home. He has no sense of family while he’s off on a Greenpeace marine vessel which is where the story begins. If you like Lee Childs’ character Jack Reacher, you’ll definitely like Levi, the Holy Roller. He’s a combination of Reacher and Green Arrow. Even though Levi’s dad is dying, he doesn’t want to stay in that crappy town where few people ever leave and nothing seems to change—not even the bullies.
The emotional development of Levi is all due to his father’s powerful sense of compassion. Mr. Cohen is the heart of the story and ever-present in his energy even in the scenes where he’s absent. This story is grounded in love and faith in humanity. Mr. Cohen believes absolutely without any doubt that good people will always prevail through the darkest of times. This is comic book—this is a story we desperately need right now. Look through the gadgets. See beyond the obviously hunky and buff Samberg analog that is Levi. Don’t let the imagery of Hitler dissuade you (the team does a primo job of making humiliating him).
“Revenge is only corrosive.” —David Cohen
Rating: 5 stars
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.