Christophe Bec

Older readers will remember the movie Abyss from the 80's. Same as in Abyss here we have a huge submarine (military in this case) finding something fascinating at the bottom of Mediterranean Sea.

Entire comic has a feel of accompanying comic version of a movie (which of course is not the case). From the beginning entire atmosphere is pretty oppressive and claustrophobic and crew although OK'd by medical checkups before the start of the voyage has its own issues that slowly start coming to the surface. When horror from the sea starts influencing everyone onboard we are shown how people's priorities change and selfishness, trauma's and deep fears (and insanity) start to surface.

So in short story is like a cross between Abyss, Event Horizon and Sphere. It is consistent and (aside from some graphical issues like the sudden submarine width getting to the carrier size) pretty good.

Art is good, it aims to have photo realistic presentation of persons (I can see that some of reviewers identified the faces because they are likes of famous movie and TV stars). Panoramas are very detailed and when you look at the submarine and environment you can be only astonished by the sheer size and vastness of this mysterious complex. Some parts are weird like aforementioned submarine size change - though story happens in the future so, OK, giant subs.... why not I guess.
Atmosphere is almost palpable, eeriness of strange constructions and especially the enormous graveyard. Even ancient evil lurking in the shadows is shown in parts, as an outline, ever present but not visible in full, like something out of nightmare.

Recommended to all fans of thriller and horror stories.… (altro)

Stunning art and a fascinating story!

As a big sci-fi fan did I truly enjoy reading this graphic novel. I did get Prometheus vibe now and then while I read it. Which was only nice since I liked the movie.

The Siberia is Earth’s 56th colony and the volume includes three stories which are all connected with each other. I did think that the first story was the best with the shuttle crashing on the planet and the surviving members having to trek over the plane to safety. A trek through a frozen world with dangerous alien creatures. The next two stories both show past expeditions and the continuation the storyline in the first story.

Siberia 56 is really great and will without a doubt appeal to sci-fi fans!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!… (altro)

Carthago is a tour of a waxworks in homage to B-movie serials, hitting all the tropes along the way. Like B-movie cinema, many "exhibits" present a perspective wholly impossible to any of the characters involved in the scene: an exterior shot of a submersible, for example, in an undersea cave facing a megaladon and no light save that from the sub itself. A great many of the panels are cinematic in composition, suggesting the comic was an excuse to draw otherwise unrelated visuals. And they are fun to see, but taken again and again, along with the sketchiest of plot and character to hold it all together, is like bingeing in a candy store, a feeling of gluttony or sickness begins to set in.

By happenstance, I watched The Mandalorian around the same time, prompting some comparison. The Mandalorian series focuses on story (something Disney does generally, however successfully it turns out in individual cases), whereas Carthago focuses on set pieces, cinematic scenery, and hardware -- then strings together various characters as a connective tissue for visuals, almost as afterthought or packaging.

Some of the reason it fell flat for me may be stylistic preferences. Had the same material been presented in more of an elliptical aesthetic (thinking AEON FLUX), I might well have enjoyed it more.… (altro)