Only monsters survive.
Creative Staff:
Story: Christopher Sebela
Art, Colors, and Letters: Hayden Sherman
What They Say:
Panacea Cryonics promised a life after death, by freezing the heads of their clients and reviving them in the near future, when technology would guarantee them a life free of disease and trouble. However, as clients are finally revived, they learn this corporate pitch was too good to be true—instead of stepping into a life of their dreams, they awaken into a never-ending nightmare.
The world is at war—and this recently revived group of every day people are handed a gun, body armor and an ultimatum. They must fight in this war, against unknown opponents and horrors, in order to secure their place in a brave new world that doesn’t want them around.
And as these normal people survive wave after wave of technologically advanced horrors, they soon realize the answers to their questions are no comfort, and the future that they wanted might never be in sight.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Cold War is a story that never goes where you expect. It’s a story about war, about killing and survival, but mostly it’s a story about monsters.
Imagine you had yourself cryonically frozen. Maybe you were ill with a terminal disease that at the time had no cure. Maybe you were wanting to escape your time and make a new go of it in the future. Maybe you were just so afraid of dying that freezing yourself seemed like a viable option. Whatever the reason, imagine waking up from your sleep. Only, instead of friendly technicians and maybe loved ones greeting you and situating you to your new reality, you’re given a gun, a suit of tactical armor, and a helmet that stores and replays all of your memories. Five minutes later, you’re dropped onto a battlefield where it’s either kill or be killed.
That’s what happened to the characters in this story. People from very different walks of life wake up and find themselves conscripted into service by a government they don’t know and fighting against a faceless enemy.
At first, the protagonist of the story appears to be Tom Rook, an ex-soldier of fortune. In the first issue, we see him pull the “cryonauts” together and keeps most of them alive (the ones he doesn’t sacrifice on a suicide mission, that is). We also learn about his past and why he was frozen. The first issue sets the story up to be some sort of military science fiction piece about soldiers and savagery—kind of like Buck Rogers only definitely not kid friendly.
Tom is killed at the end of the issue.
Killing Tom is a brilliant move, because it completely upends our expectations and establishes that this is a story where anybody can die at any moment.
As the story progresses, the viewpoint characters shift, and there isn’t a clear protagonist. What is clear, though, is that all of these people are monsters in one way or another. Make no mistake, Tom Rook was no boy scout. Neither was Vinh, the somewhat-past-middle-aged woman who steps up when Rook buys the farm. Or the strangely sycophantic John, who hides a terrible secret. I could go on, but that would ruin the fun of discovering these characters.
These characters fight and kill and quarrel between themselves. Each feel like they have some piece of the puzzle as to why they’re there and what’s going on, but they’re all shocked when the ultimate truth is revealed.
The story takes another twist near the second half with arrival of Polly—a teenage girl whose regeneration went poorly and only her head survived. Her head was placed inside this mech suit that kind of looks like Arnim Zola and, because of her background, she’s able to control it and the nanomachines that comprise it better than just about anyone.
Polly’s not a killer, not a soldier, not a mafia hitman or anything like that, she’s just a girl. But she’s also a monster. See, monsters come in all shapes and sizes, and some are labeled so fairly because of their actions. Others are labeled so unfairly because of the unfortunate circumstances of fate, chance, or genetics. Polly flips the script, so to speak, but she also fits the overarching theme.
Cold War never wastes a second. The plot races forward like it a hot rod riding a tank of nitrous. It never rests and never goes where you think it will. At times it’s bleak, at times oddly hopeful, but it’s always engaging, and it forces you to pay attention, which is what all good art should do.
The linework, inking, and colors match the gritty style. Hayden Sherman’s style brings to mind the early works of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson as well as Bill Sienkiewicz. The only issue I had was that it was difficult to tell the characters apart at first, but that might also be the point. I can’t say that it’s a pretty style, but it’s damn effective and perfect for the story it’s telling.
In Summary:
Chris has been singing Cold War’s praises for some time now, so I knew I was in for a treat. I just didn’t realize how much of a treat it was going to be! It’s brutal, it’s exciting, and it’s never what I expected. It smartly plays with the audience’s expectations and then subverts them in a way that’s highly intelligent and damn fun to experience. Dr. J gives this an…
Grade: A+
Age Rating: N/A but definitely not for kids
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: 19 September 2018
MSRP: $14.99
