The ghosts of the past are about to exert control.
Creative Staff:
Story: Joe Harris
Art: Sebastian Piriz
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
What They Say:
Paolo, Abby, and Tosh lead their assemblage of “disaster tourists” deep inside the Fukushima Exclusion Zone for what they expect to be a (relatively) mundane experience…if radioactive hotspots, irradiated feral animals, and the promise of swift and harsh arrest by authorities could be classified as mundane. But this is an ancient place with no shortage of legends or ghosts. And nobody told the Samurai they were coming!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening issue of Disaster Inc was certainly interesting as we got a look at the company and some of what they do but the gape of a few months didn’t help this title overall. Thankfully, Joe Harris’ script is one that after the first few pages it all comes back quickly and you reconnect with what came before. The opening pages themselves set up this issue and work well too, but there’s an easy disconnect there. The big draw once again is Sebastian Piriz whose artwork is really solid throughout this with a lot of details to it. The mystical elements are pretty creepy and intriguing, the flashback period captures the way the time just felt like you were unnerved, and the expedition in the present deals with a lot of personalities in a pretty good way.
A decent bit of time is spent looking back to 2011 where within the present-day Exclusion Zone we see a school where some of the kids found the remains of a samurai sword outside. That gets brought inside and the teacher is able to launch a history lesson based on it and even draws the kids into helping with it, which reduces its coolness factor. But this also comes as things go south in Fukushima with what’s about to be unleashed there, though everyone is unknowing about that. It’s engaging to see the calm before the story and the first hints of what’s to come but also how it may be connected to the present in that the exclusion zone may be a way of the past taking hold in the present in ways that nobody thought of.
The present-day material is what dominates and there is a lot to like here. The trip that they’re on is moving forward well enough but Abby is starting to realize Paolo and Tosh have their own agenda here as they’re very off-course from where they should be. And while they don’t deny it they play it down, making it clear where they’re headed there will be their end-point transportation as well. What makes things complicated is that they’re dismissive of Abby but others are starting to realize there’s a problem too. Some, like our mellow dude, is intent on checking out the town and school nearby which connects us with the flashback material. Playing wit the sword here as the narration talks about the bloodstained past that these hills contain going back centuries is sharp and we see how there may be something within this Exclusion Zone that is going to use the remains of the sword as a way to pass through into a physical shell.
In Summary:
I like the concept behind Disaster Inc. but I’m not quite sure where it’s going yet. And it’s playing around some dicey material what with Fukushima and the 3/11 event. I do like having this group going through the Exclusion Zone as these kinds of thrillseekers are definitely out there and it can lead to a neat story. The backstory in this issue is definitely interesting and is likely to go badly if we see more of it but the time in the present with the group and seeing Abby trying to figure out what Paolo and Tosh are up to works well while general exploration continues on.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: AfterShock Comics (Kindle)
Release Date: August 5th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
