From Avatar Press comes this terrifying tale about warp-speed space travel – and if you’re expecting it to be like Alien, don’t worry. It’s much scarier.
Written by Garth Ennis
Illustrated by Facundo PercioMaster storyteller GARTH ENNIS and Fashion Beast artist FACUNDO PERCIO team up to deliver a haunting new epic of science fiction horror. The crew of the Caliban travels hyperspace on nothing more than a routine trip for the giant vessel. Just human beings that have been inside a bit too long, confident of no other life in the Galaxy, and all the vastness of space to remind them how far they are from home. But when an impossible accident suddenly causes the Caliban to slam into an abandoned alien ship, a nightmare in space begins to unfold. Ennis delivers his unique brand of flawed characters, spot-on dialog, and trademark flare for the unexpected in a new series in the vein of Alien.
We access this story through some thoughtful – and rather unusual – first person narration. A crew member aboard a warp-speed ship, Nomi is one of a small number of people who stay awake for the voyage. And from the get-go, it’s clear that this isn’t the most mentally healthy position to be in; the physical realities of warp travel are pretty mind-blowing.
As we learn more about the crew’s work and daily life, Ennis is careful not to explain the more unsettling details that come up in Nomi’s narration. I’m still puzzling over a line about “stillborn things that go straight in the trash”, and that’s not the only moment that rings an alarm bell. We relate to her because she’s our focalizing voice; but there are moments where we feel estranged from her by dint of her extraordinary situation, and this adds to the tension.
The dialogue isn’t always as spot-on as it could be – a few too many characters are introduced at once, making for a tangle of conversation early in the issue – but the Big Situation that comes up gets the issue rolling. This predicament worsens at every turn, with a revelatory splash page letting us know that shit just got real.
It’s a predicament that has been portrayed in other works, but it’s played to the hilt here, with Fecundo Percio’s compositions capitalizing on the sense of confinement. If you have fond memories of “Fashion Beast”, you’ll find that Percio’s precise, heavily shadowed style works just as beautifully here, crowding the edges of panels with technological details and hemming our characters in.
The characters themselves have rather flat affects, which makes sense given the realities of their work; Nomi is distinguished by a melancholy look that meshes well with her narration. But despite the overall lack of emotionality in the characters, a death scene hits home in all kinds of ways. Part of it is the understated way Percio gets across what one crew member is feeling; part of it seems to lie in the way the compositions work, emphasizing the surreal aspect of what’s just happened.
And while it’s hard to write about without giving too much away, the revelatory splash page I mentioned uses scale expertly, taking an otherworldly element and playing it for maximum shock value. While the nature of this thing is somewhat familiar – we’ve seen it many times – the realistic detail and shadowing give it a compelling gravity. Hernan Cabrera’s colours also shine here, distinguishing this moment and the circumstances that surround it with a fleshy sepia tone.
Ennis and Percio are doing something chilling here, running with the idea that space wasn’t made for us – that it can and will drive us insane. Thoughtful, unsettling, even alienating, “Caliban” is a comic that leaves you with questions you’re afraid to have answered. And if that’s not the definition of sci-fi horror, it’s damn close.
Final Verdict: 8.9 – Buy
