Science fiction (when done well) has always held a special place in my heart. If you think about it, most of the DNA you’ll find in the best horror stories factor heavily into everything that makes for a great science fiction tale.
An other-worldly presence, a mysterious figure pulling the strings from the shadows, an end of the world type scenario, it’s all there front and center in both. In John Carpenter’s: Tales of Science Fiction: Civilians (the latest from Storm King Comics) we get plenty from each of those buckets.
The opening words, the very first thing we see on page one, set the tone nicely and let us know exactly what kind of a journey we were in for. It begins, “it was a nice day for a mass casualty event,” I think that sums up quite perfectly everything that followed. The ending to that scene was chilling and had a beach full of people walking helplessly into the ocean, not knowing why they were doing it, yet, powerless to stop themselves. A crackpot on YouTube has a theory as to why that happened (as crackpots on YouTube tend to do) but nothing that could be taken seriously… could it?
After the tragedy at the beach we are introduced to the mother of one of the victims as she’s making her way through the airport the following day. Elsewhere it’s raining homeless people off of an overpass. That event was followed up by a group of seemingly normal people going blank and trying to steal anything that wasn’t nailed down in Beverly Hills. These events bring together three very different people, all who have a good reason to get to the bottom of what’s going on. What follows is one strange happening after another while these strangers search for the truth, for the cause of all this madness.
The architects of the apocalypse
Civilians was written by Duane Swierczynski and the influence of the great science fiction shows of the past is apparent on every page. Maybe this is only me projecting but this book felt like a top-tier episode of The Twilight Zone. Swierczynski wasted no time jumping right into the story with a wild event that sucked me in from the word go. Even the way the mystery was slowly unraveled, like a ball of yarn slowly being unwrapped, was reminiscent of that 1960’s sci-fi staple. No, he doesn’t leave the ending or the cause of the crazy up to us, the reader, the information is very deliberately withheld until we needed to know. It wasn’t what I was expecting and for that I loved it all the more.
Besides the great story that was told here, the book itself is absolutely beautiful to look at. For that we have several people to thank, the first being the man behind the pencil, Andrea Mutti. His character designs were, as always, on the border of animation and live action. He somehow manages to make these 2D people feel real even though we know we’re reading a comic. It’s always a pleasure getting to look at his work. With that said, we have to give credit where it’s due, to the inker on the book, Gigi Baldassini. The lines were always tight and the shadows were always deep, it was great work.
Valerio Alloro followed those two by bringing the color to the page. One thing I’m always interested in when I read a book like this is how the artists choose to use color. It can vary greatly from title to title from very muted and moody to bright and fun. Civilians falls somewhere in the middle of those and has the perfect balance of both worlds. Like I said, it’s a beautiful book. The final piece of this puzzle is of course the lettering and it was laid in with expert precision by Janice Chiang. I don’t have the best vision in the world and I never found myself squinting or trying to guess a letter, that’s a huge win in my book. It was fantastic.
Final Thoughts
Civilians was a throw back to the science fiction tales of the past that managed to keep a modern day feel. Once it started (on page one) it didn’t let up until the horrifying conclusion, and even then, it only relented because it was over. This was very much a quick and fun read where I never once found myself bored or wanting to do anything but propel forward—the mark of any great story. It had been a while since I’ve been able to read a science fiction story that I cared to finish so this was a great breath of fresh air.
Some people believe that if it doesn’t involve space or aliens or time travel then it can’t be a science fiction story and I never understood that stance. Sci-fi is as broad a medium to work in as drama or comedy or horror and when it’s done well, you can’t beat it. This is very much one of those times so, if your life has been missing a good science fiction yarn, if your heart has been yearning for an original tale to make you think and keep you entertained, then you need to give this book a chance. Civilians was the best sci-fi story I’ve consumed this year.
Wonderfully Weird & Horrifying 