The Holy Roller: Volume One by Andy Samberg, Rick Remender, Joe Trohman, Roland Boschi & Moreno Dinisio

Yes, it is absolutely ludicrous to have a vigilante whose main weapon is a bowling ball, but he’s out there fighting neo-Nazis and we 100% need more of that nowadays!

And it isn’t just some cut-and-dried good guy vs generic white nationalists story either. There’s a lot of nuance in this book, as well as plenty of pointed allusions to the nightmare of governance currently in charge of the USA. The wild thing is that I’m sure Andy Samberg, Rick Remender and Joe Trohman were all “how far can we push the bounds of credulity in this book?”, saw The Holy Roller go to print, then turned on the TV or social media in recent days to discover that reality is even more ridiculous than half the stuff in here! There are no guardrails on this administration, which is partly why it’s so important that popular culture fights back, loudly and with both humor and integrity. And that’s exactly what this book does. Sure it gets violent and ugly — I mean, is there a pretty way to fight with a bowling ball? — but it’s an important reminder that sometimes you just gotta punch the Nazi.

Anyway, the story opens on young Levi Coen, a middle schooler whose dad is obsessed with bowling. Levi only goes to the bowling alley to play video games and crush on pretty Amy Henry, the owner’s daughter. Unfortunately, Amy’s brother Clyde is a huge jerk who taunts Levi, then bans him from the alley for life when Levi loses a bet.

Fast-forward twenty years, and Levi is on a boat (yep, there’s a reason Mr Samberg gets the first slot in the credits here, and it’s 100% because his fingerprints are all over the humor of this book.) His boss orders him to go home to be with his dying dad, and Levi reluctantly obeys.

But his hometown is very different from what he remembers. Change is inevitable everywhere, but the rise in xenophobia really throws him. And that’s even before he makes the mistake of stopping by the bowling alley to visit with his favorite arcade games. Clyde is in charge of the business now, and he certainly hasn’t forgotten the lifetime ban.

What follows is a series of brutal fights as Levi eventually takes on the mantle of The Holy Roller in order to protect his town from rampant right-wing violence. So far, so formulaic, but this book is really enlivened by both its excellent comedic timing and its pointed political and ethical stances. The creative team makes fun of bigots, greedy capitalists and anyone who sympathizes with Hitler, in a madcap romp that is nearly impossible to imagine succeeding half as well without Mr Samberg’s creative input. Levi is clearly modeled after him (and Levi’s dad is clearly modeled after Judd Hirsch) but that doesn’t undercut the story at all, as occasionally happens with other vanity projects. It’s harder to distinguish Mr Remender and Mr Trohman’s individual contributions, but anyone who’s ever read a book by the former knows that they’re in for a tightly-paced, action-packed, twist-filled adventure, as this one certainly is.

Roland Boschi’s art holds up strongly to everything (and it’s a lot!) that the script throws at him. I was a big fan especially of his work on the logos and layouts. Moreno Dinisio’s colors do a lot of heavy lifting as well, particularly in the night and hologram scenes. There’s also a pretty sizeable section of extra material in the back, collecting variant covers by guest artists and character concept designs.

The world, but especially the US, needs more books like THR: popular media that’s proud to loudly declare its antifascist bonafides. I can only pray that we keep getting to enjoy them.

The Holy Roller: Volume One by Andy Samberg, Rick Remender, Joe Trohman, Roland Boschi & Moreno Dinisio was published April 8 2025 by Image Comics and is available from all good booksellers, including