Thursday, September 11, 2014

Annihilator #1

   Whenever Grant Morrison writes, attention must be paid.

   So I eagerly picked up this first issue of Annihilator, which is being published by Legendary Comics.

   It is, you should not be at all surprised to discover, intelligent, mercurial and very compelling.

   It's a story told on two levels, a story within a story. Over in what we laughingly call the real world, we find a writer trying to get work done on his next film - so he buys a strange haunted house in hopes that it'll inspire him.

   The story he's writing takes place in outer space at the heart of the galaxy, as a small outpost orbits near the universe's biggest black hole, which is know as the Annihilator.

   There we meet the criminal Max Nomax, who has been exiled to that murderously depressing site.

   And then, dear friends, things start getting really weird.

   This is not a book for children, as you might expect. There's nudity, drug use, bad words - that sort of thing. Not that kids would be likely to tackle this story - it's very challenging and quite disturbing.

   The art by Frazer Irving is dark and vivid, with powerful layouts and unique character designs - I like it a lot!

   This book isn't for everyone, of course, but it's a sharp science fiction tale with a dark twist - I'm anxious to see where it goes from here.

Grade: A

------------------------

No comments: