A strong start with classic Zone feel.
What They Say:
The Twilight Zone, Issue One: Trevor Richmond is a Wall Street investor who embezzled millions and is about to tank the economy. Again. Desperate to avoid the consequences for his actions, he goes to Expedited Services, Inc., which offers to help him disappear and enjoy a life of leisure in a new life. But what exactly is this new life, how much is freedom worth, and what happens to the old life when someone else shows up to claim it? This is the first installment of three interlocking stories that will push the boundaries of The Twilight Zone into new and uncharted territory, a journey that will travel into the past and the future, into murder and revenge and the sunrise of nuclear Armageddon. From J. Michael Straczynski, Hugo-winning creator of Babylon 5, writer for Thor and Changeling and World War Z as well as the 1988 Twilight Zone.
Creators:
Story: J. Michael Straczynski
Art: Guiu Vilanova
Colors: Vinicius Andrade
Letters: Rob Steen
The Review:
For my money, Rod Serling was one of the best writers for television and The Twilight Zone was his best work. While the show was often criticized for being a bit too hamfisted in its moralizing and relying too much on twist endings, the majority of the series contained some of the best work in speculative fiction at that time tempered at its core with a deep love and understanding of the human condition. This is one of the reasons why the show has remained popular to this day and why many have tried to resurrect it.
While I don’t think any of the resurrections have quite managed to capture the unique tone and magic of the show, this new comic series is off to a great start. It begins with one of the most basic of human desires: to run away. Trevor Richmond is a Wall Street investor who has embezzled millions of dollars from his company. The FBI has gotten wise to his dealings and now he needs to hide. Enter Expedited Services, Inc., a company that specializes in making people disappear. Through surgery, nanotechnology, and computer wizardry, they completely rewrite Trevor’s existence, giving him a new face, a new body, new fingerprints, and a life of relative leisure. Of course, this being the Twilight Zone, Trevor’s escape may well become his prison.
As a Zone fan, I greatly enjoyed reading this comic. J. Michael Straczynski does a pitch-perfect Serling. I couldn’t help but hear the host’s voice when I read the introductory captions and I half expected to see him appear in a panel. He doesn’t, and that’s probably for the best as there is a fine line between honoring the man and appropriating his likeness to capitalize on nostalgia.
While the pacing and characterizations are all spot on, I do want to focus on the dialogue. I’ve been a fan of Straczynski ever since Babylon 5 and I think that he does dialogue better than 90% of the writers working in television or comics. The speech Trevor gives about why he wants a new life is great, especially when contrasted by the real reason. Perhaps the best line of the entire issue was, “Yes. Natalie. Beautiful, vacuous Natalie. Hold her to your ear and you can hear the sea.” It’s a clever line that reveals more about his character than he probably intends and it’s just one example of how well Straczynski captures voice.
This is assisted by the excellent photorealistic art by Guiu Vilanova and the grounded colors of Vinicius Andrade. Although I tend to favor more expressionistic or cartoon-y art in comics, their style works very well for this type of story. The Twilight Zone has always been about the incursion of the unreal into the real (established in that wonderful liminal area between day and night) and because of that the story needs to be presented in a realistic, grounded style in order to establish that this is the real world and to highlight the fantastical nature of events in which the protagonist finds himself.
Honestly, I’d be happy if this were just done as a straight up anthology, but what makes this new series particularly exciting is the promise of playing with the format. The Twilight Zone always did done-in-one episodes. There were no two-parters, and no lingering plot threads or characters running through different episodes. This series promises to be different as this is the first of three interlocking stories, and while the quality of the writing and art alone is enough to make me recommend this, the promise of sailing the Zone into new, strange waters makes this even more exciting.
In Summary:
Twilight Zone issue one is a strong start in a revitalizing of the old, great series. Straczynski’s writing coupled with Vilanova’s art and Andrade’s colors make for a great read that manages to capture the feel of the original show while at the same time promising something new and different. I’m certainly on board for the next issue. Highly recommended.
Grade: A+
