Event Horizon: Inferno #1 Sets up Some Solid Sci-Fi Horror
Space marines clash with demons aboard the Event Horizon in this follow-up to the biggest horror comic of 2025! In 2040, the starship Event Horizon disappeared. Seven years later, it returned possessed by a demonic entity. After murdering its rescue crew, it was blown in half, with the front of the ship left yearning for its heart: a gravity drive designed for interdimensional travel. Two hundred years later, a billionaire brings his own private star fleet to the wreckage around Neptune. He’s heard stories of the Event Horizon and will gleefully sacrifice any number of employees to uncover its secrets! Event Horizon: Inferno #1 is a solid follow up to the film introducing new horrors and more waiting.
There’s few films that completely scare the crap out of me. Event Horizon is the one I struggle to make it through. It’s a film, like Hellraiser, that just unnerves me to the point I feel ill at points watching either of them. I read the prequel comic series Event Horizon: Dark Descent and at times had a similar feel. So, I dove into Event Horizon: Inferno expecting a similar experience, enjoyable but making me squeamish.
Written by Christian Ward, the new series takes us two hundred years after the film, with a new mission to explore the Event Horizon. Event Horizon: Inferno #1 is an intriguing debut introducing a main character in Daniel Durante. Durante comes off as a “billionaire psychopath/sociopath,” a perfect villain for today’s world.
Ward, beyond its rather shocking opening, feels like a general sci-fi story with a team gathered to explore the ship. But, with it all, it’s a slow build that creates tension as we know that hell will break loose at some point. And that tension builds to the end of the issue that will play to fans of the horror series (it’s a reveal that might be lost on those who are new to the property). Ward though, delivers a hell of a lot of detail to introduce the characters to readers and giving the lay of the land.
The art by Rob Carey is solid with color by Xenon Honchar, and lettering by Alex Ray. The comic has a sci-fi style that feels like it mines a lot of previous properties but also very unique in its look. It’s a look that builds a certain expectation as the comic begins (beyond its initial opening) and then slowly shifts as the horror of the comic unfolds. It’s soldiers realizing they’re fubar and the look of it all feels like they’re both prepared and not. It feels like Aliens but demons instead of xenomorphs. There’s also a certain coldness to it all that comes across in the design of everything.
Event Horizon: Inferno #1 does a great job of laying out the characters, the situation, and delivering some surprises in a debut that expands the story and world. So far, it feels a bit more sci-fi than horror, but more guts, gore, and grime is sure to come.
Story: Christian Ward Art: Rob Carey
Color: Xenon Honchar Letterer: Alex Ray
Story: 8.35 Art: 8.4 Overall: 8.35 Recommendation: Buy
IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
