The Mall is a Coming of Age Crime Comic Book by Don Handfield and James Haick III.
It's The '80s, the height of popularity for the indoor mall. It's where all the cool kids hang out, where all the nerds work for a living, and everything is available.
And for three seemingly-unrelated kids, it's where their most unexpected connection comes into play.
Diego, a son of a poor Hispanic window washer, Lena, a cheerleader from Edision High School, and Dallas, a Jock who transferred from one school to another (Edison), each show up at the mall early one morning as per the orders from a letter each of them received. There, they meet Leonard Cardini, who informs them that they're all the illegitimate children of one Gino Cardini, who was killed two weeks ago. In his will, Gino decided to leave each of his kids a store in the Royal Palm Mall, each one tailored to their interests. Diego is given the music store, Lena the pet store, and Dallas the shoe store.
They also discover that the stores are all front for the more illegal activities of the Cardini Family. Thus, the three teens now find themselves swept up in Florida's criminal underworld.
The comic was published in May of 2018, on Free Comic Book Day, under the Scout Comics banner.
The Mall contains examples of:
- The '80s: Issue #1 states the time as Fall, 1984.
- Cuteness Proximity: Lena is completely enamored with the puppies at the pet store she's been left.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: It being set in The '80s, attitudes towards non-Americans and gay people are a LOT harsher. Diego, who's of hispanic descent, is called a "wetback" by some Jocks from Edison High. And Leonard Cardini, a gay man, is referred to by a number of anti-gay slurs.
- Disney Villain Death: The bald guy who comes to the mall in Issue #1 and threatens Leonard's life is pushed over a second floor guardrail. The final picture is of him lying on the mall floor with two pools of blood coming from him (one from the bullet wound in his leg, and the other from his head).
- Handguns: The bald mobster brings a pistol in Issue #1 to his confrontation with Leonard Cardini. It ends up in Diego's hands, and he drops it, causinng it to shoot the mobster in the leg. It then ends up in Lena's hands.
- The Mall: The Royal Palm Mall, where each of the kids has a store.
- Precious Puppy: Plenty of them at the pet store Lena is given.
- Shout-Out: Many covers for the books are references to (mostly) 80s movies.
- Issue #1's cover variants are in reference to The Breakfast Club and Goodfellas.
- Issue #2's cover is in reference to Scarface (1983).
- Issue #3's cover is in reference to Back to the Future and Weird Science.
- Issue #4's cover is in reference to Uncle Buck.
- Issue #5's cover is in reference to Adventures in Babysitting
- To Be Continued: Issue #1 ends on one on the picture of the bald mobster's corpse.
- Unexpected Inheritance: The three kids end up inheriting stores in the mall from a man they didn't know was their shared father.
- Dallas is given a show store.
- Diego is given a music store.
- Lena is given a pet store.
