Titan Comics 2015
Written and Illustrated by Jay Gunn
Alright here’s something we don’t see everyday and for that i’m thrilled. There’s something already mysterious about the world’s oceans and then to see some sort plague that reacts to people turning them into almost these zombie type creatures who melt and go into the sea that’s creating a whole new kind of end the world scenario isn’t easy to do and I applaud Jay for his creativity here.
So at first with the two people coming from the sea, the British Channel Island of Breith, you get the impression that this isn’t like our world at all instead there are spires of coral jutting out of the ocean and ancient sea creatures littering the beach. While we see the woman full on may I suggest in this day and age that the black out on him looked odd so if there’s a next time just show it. However this is our world forever changed and as you see Shauna and a new species of pet you realize this world is incredibly well thought out and brought to life wonderfully. It helps when the writer and the artist are the same person too since everything on every page is exactly how he envisions it.
Jay draws you into this world with such an amazing grace full of awe and wonder. When Shauna finds the two who came out of the water, something that’s never been done before, and they are attacked by an dinosaur type sea creature help arrives and the real story begins. A new religion is formed from the ashes of the old ones as we see at a burial for a local man and the questions keep coming for us as readers. Surrounded by beautiful scenery and yet trapped for years thanks to the plague that’s swept the world the way these people are surviving is a story unto itself.
Cassel comes to fetch Mary who has been asked for by name by the woman who came from the sea. Shauna’s been quarantined with the two as Mary makes her way to where they are and another part of the story is revealed. While their blue hue isn’t explained a lot of stuff happens as we start to see what happens around the world as the “sea sickness” takes hold of people and changes the world’s population forever. Thankfully right now not much of the magic or science or whatever is behind this new world is given to us but we get more than enough of how this spread and the effects it has on humankind.
This isn’t going to be a good book for me to explain to anyone other than to say that this is something you need to experience. It has all the classic makings of a great detective novel but instead of a whodunnit it’s more of what did it and how did it spread so quickly. Then there’s another added factor that there seems a moment when it’s almost like something in the sea is trying correct what’s wrong. Meg was a scientist before going into the sea and re-emerging from it and what we learn from her conversation with Mary manages to make this even more interesting it’s as if Jay keeps taking the story to higher level page after page ensuring that you can’t help yourself but have to return to see what happens next.
Hauntingly beautiful interiors belie the seriousness of what’s happening in this world Jay has created as it’s is just as deadly as it is beautiful.