Review: Transience: An Unforgettable Anthology
“Transience is set in a world where biological attacks have left large swathes of the population with anterograde amnesia – the inability to form new memories. It’s like 50 First Dates with less terrible Adam Sandler jokes and more existential crises. In the seven stories of Transience, we look at different people in different parts of the world as they deal with the effects of this at varying numbers of years after the event. Each story features at least one creator from the country it’s set in.”
The concept behind this graphic novel had me hooked within moments of opening the email. The very idea of a terrorist attack that nobody will ever remember is brilliantly horrifying, and allows some brilliant individual stories to be told.
Transience is the kind of anthology that feels as though every writer was on the same page when creating the story. The review copy I read was 65 pages including the cover, and in an uncharacteristic move, I read through the entire pdf in one sitting (I actually had to read it twice because I finished my first run through at 2am last night and promptly fell asleep) ignoring my cup of tea the entire time. Every story left me wanting more, which is unusual for an anthology collection as I find that there’s typically at least one dude – that’s not the case here.
The visual style of each story varies, but there’s a consistency in the sparse use of colour as each story is either black and white, or there’s an additional shade or two added. While this may have been a cost saving choice (or stylistic) choice, it has the effect of tying the various art styles together within the overarching concept of the anthology.
When reading these stories, I was struck by the underlying current of hope laced into the general sense of despair that lifts from the page. As I previously mentioned, there isn’t a dud story here; the writing is fantastic, and the visual story telling capabilities of the artists allows the writers to keep expositionary dialogue largely to a minimum – though I sure the easy to understand concept helps with that. The copy I read wasn’t completely finished (there were a couple of plain intro pages that were just black words on text), but I’m told that this won’t be the case in the final version (honestly, were the pages left as they are, then it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world).
This was a fantastic collection of stories, and I can’t recommend it highly enough to you. Especially for $4 if you back the Kickstarter.
Now excuse me while I go hop on the emotional roller coaster and read them again.
Story: Various Art: Various
Stories: 10 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.5 Recommendation: Buy
Graphic Policy was provided a FREE copy for review. I have also contributed to one of Leo Johnson’s previous works, the digital comics magazine Stuck In The Gutters, but have no stake in this anthology.
“Even killing machines need a day off!
Action Comics #983 Superman’s greatest enemies are teaming up to destroy him. The Eradictor and Cyborg Superman have just freed General Zod, who has agreed to work with the Anti-Superman Squad (not the official name) so they’ll give him access to the Phantom Zone where his army is held prisoner. Oh, and Superman has lost his eyesight, which puts him at a slight disadvantage… This is Friendly, and a must read.
new guy, Makson, but twisted to a more evil version of Edgar Rice Burrows’ hero. Makson has pulled his estranged family to him, and he’s coming this way. The majority of this issue is Friendly, but the last few pages may be a little confusing.
Beautiful Canvas #1 (Black Mask) Okay, this comic has a lot of things I like: a badass take no shit hitwoman as a main character, a queer romance, well-choreographed action from artist Sami Kivela, and a splash of color from Triona Farrell. It’s like eating a dish with great ingredients that don’t mesh into a coherent, tasty eating experience. The main character, Lon, is definitely well-defined, but Ryan K Lindsay and Kivela jump around so often that it’s hard to get a read on the supporting cast. It’s like they’re trying to out David Lynch David Lynch at times. Maybe, I’ll give this one a second try when it’s out in trade. Overall: 5 Recommendation: Pass
True Patriot Presents #5 (Chapterhouse)** – Happy Canada Day, everyone! Chapterhouse serves up the latest installment of their anthology series. Red Ensign is a wartime Canadian hero with no special powers, much like Johnny Canuck. (The red ensign was the name of an unofficial Canadian flag used until we got our own flag in 1965). This is the opening chapter of a black and white movie serial featuring Nazi scientists and atomic secrets. Fun. Arrowhead is my favourite thing in the entire Chapterverse (the Avro Arrow was a 1960’s-era Canadian-made fighter jet, supposedly the most advanced plane in the world, and was never put into production for mysterious reasons). Here, a famous UFO sighting turns out to be a time traveller from the far future. Super fun! Dominion Jack is the daughter of the original (the official name of our home and native land was the Dominion of Canada, and July 1 was Dominion Day until 1982). This is a paint-by-numbers superhero-fights-supervillains-in-superjail story, with a standard melodramatic reveal. Crude is a tarsands monster, but it’s been several issues since we last saw it, and I completely forgot what this story was supposed to be about. Not that it was anything more than a Swamp-Thing-of-Fort McMurray (capital city of the Alberta oil sands). Nothing new, or even horror-genre-standard in either the writing or the art. Finally, the Family Dynamic, which stands out here as the only non-specifically Canadian heroes. They are elemental types in an okay superheroic story – but when they get a forest fire assist from Motor City’s Defender, media speculation abounds as to whether the Canadians are going to merge with their American counterparts. Ain’t that always the way, eh? It’s hard to rate an anthology, but the weak stuff (Dominion Jack, Crude) and the mediocre (Family Dynamic) really drags the good stuff (Red Ensign, Arrowhead) down. Overall: 6.5 Recommendation: Read (I bought mine, but cheap on Comixology).
“In the fires of victory, a soldier becomes…a general. With the hostile Cadmium army crushed beneath his force’s boots, Aric of Dacia now commands an entire fleet into the final battle for the soul of an empire. But as a new dawn rises across this unrelenting alien world, what vicious new menace will come forth to greet it?”
The government has dispatched Amanda McKee – the technopath codenamed Livewire – to investigate the ruins of a secret facility formerly run by Toyo Harada, the most powerful telepath on Earth and her former mentor. In his quest for world betterment at any cost, Harada sought out and activated many potential psiots like himself. Those who survived, but whose powers he deemed to have no value to his cause, were hidden away at this installation. But Livewire, having studied Harada’s greatest strengths and learned his deepest weaknesses, senses opportunity where he once saw failure. A young girl who can talk to birds… A boy who can make inanimate objects gently glow… To others, these are expensive disappointments. But, to Livewire, they are secret weapons…in need of a leader. Now, as a mechanized killer called Rex-O seeks to draw them out, Livewire and her new team of cadets will be forced to put their powers into action…in ways they never could have imagined…
Aquaman #25 Not only is this comic the highlight of a series that’s been one of DC’s strongest since Rebirth began, it’s also one of the best places to dive in. It’s Friendly enough without a recap as you’ll be able to piece together the gist of things, but essentially Arthur has been deposed as King of Atlantis due to his Surface friendly policies, and he is currently believed dead.
much more, but the issue is still fun – and Friendly to boot.
