Cruel Universe

[Jeff of Earth-J]

This is the second of Oni Press's new EC imprint (following last month's Epitaphs from the Abyss).

SPOILERS - I generally don't like to know in advance if a story has a twist ending. That itself is a spoiler for me because in the back of my mind I try to guess the spoiler in advance rather than cancentrating on the the story itself. But more often than not EC stories had spoilers and so do these. I was not expecting one in the first story, and I must admit it caught me totally off guard. I'm not going to reveal what the spoilers are, but you may be able to guess them if you know in advance that they are coming.

1. "The Champion" - Cover story. About a group of slaves forced into gladatorial combat in outer space.
2. "Solo Shift" - A "closed door mystery" set aboard a ship on the event horizon of a black hole. (I guesseed the"who" but not the "how.")
3. "Drink Up" - An eccentric billionaire obsessed with living forever finds the legendary "Fountain of Youth."
4. "Priceless" - Another rich eccentric lives his life vicariously through an "experiencer" implanted in someone else's brain.

END SPOILERS

These are not exactly like classic EC comics, but they are an incredible simulation. EC comics pushed the envelope of what was considered acceptable in the 1950s, and Oni Press is doing the same thing 70 years later. (That Richard Starkings and his team at Comicraft have resurrected EC's original Leroy-style font helps to complete the illusion.) To me, these stories suggest a mash-up of the original EC comics and DC's Wasteland of the late '80s (for those of you reading this who remember that). 

 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

v2 #1:

• "In a Strange Land" - Social commentary disguised as a morality tale with a twist ending. Very retro, but more like Marvel of that era than EC. A+.
• "Catch & Kill" - What do our pets really think about us? Let's find out.
• "The Fittest" - Two spaceships filled with the "fittest" specimens of humanity flee plague-ridden Earth for the colonies of Europa.

BONUS STORY: "Derelict Ship" by William Gaines, Al Feldstein and Bernie Krigstein from 1953.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

v2 #2:

• "I Have and Alien in My Basement" - A journalist interviews a man who claims to have... well, an alien in his basement.
• "Ham Radio" - A guy learns of an abused girl over his ham radio.
• "For Art's Sake" - AI taps directly, physically, into an artist's brain... and that's just page one.

This first story, I think, was my favorite. As it turns out, the guy does have an alien in his basement... the corpse of an alien he killed so he could dissect and preserve it. But it turns out  [SPOILER] that the journalist is an alien from the saem race. Don't worry; the guy gets what's coming to him. [END SPOILER]

The second story was a bit hard to follow until I figured out what was going on. Once I did I appreciated the twist, but, as I said, it was a bit hard to follow up until then. [SPOILER] It turns out that the little girl's "rescuer" was actually her killer, brainwashed in the name of rehabilitation." [END SPOILER]

The third story is a cautionary tale about the last human left on Earth and the AI robot he inspired.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Oh man, I am a full month behind. I just read the first issue this morning.

On a side note, I have a friend looking to get back into comics, and I recommended the new EC line to him.