Didn't know what to expect from this new series. Different publishers have tried to bring back The Twilight Zone as a comic book series from time to time, but the results have never been all that impressive (to me), even with names such as Harlan Ellison and Neal Adams attached. This is an anthology series with a different writer/artist or writer/artist team every issue, so the results are liable to be mixed. I was going to post my thoughts on the first issue to the "What Comic Books Have You Read Today?" discussion, but this first issue was impressive enough (again, to me) to begin its own dedicated thread.
This first issue is written by Dan Watters, and he definitely has Rod Serling's distinctive patois down pat. I had no trouble hearing Serling's voice in my mind's ear as I read the opening and closing narration. The plot, too, is very Serling-esque, about a dying rich man obsessed with eliminating death, and yes, benefitting all mankind. (Spoiler: It doesn't work out that way.) The story is drawn in an impressionistic style by artist Morgan Beem. Instead of detail, we get mood. It's not beautiful on the surface, but sometimes beauty rests in the design rather than in perfect delineation of a character or thing.
It's not a perfect imitation of the old TV show, but it's at least as good an approximation as Oni Press's "EC" comics are of the original EC Comics. And that's a pretty high compliment.
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I've read enough stories about defeating death that I know, in general, that it's a bad idea. If nothing else, we're overrun by insects in a week. And there are already 8 billion people on the planet, a number which is still staggering to me, I don't even want to know what it would look like if people stopped dying. That's bad enough. But I'm sure the writer of this story has read all those other stories, too, and has a surprise for me.
Now I'll have to check the book out!
ISSUE #2:
This one is by Tom Scioli whom you may know from Godland or Fantastic Four: Grand Design or Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics. Like #1, #2 isn't exactly like the TV show, but it's close enough that I appreciate the effort. It's about a group of astronauts that land on a planet that is... telepathic? I'm reluctant to say anything more about lest I spoil it for someone who plans to read it for himself. There's another classic TV episode this will bring to mind (I've probably already said too much), but this story goes beyond that. Very thought-provoking.
I got issue #2. I missed issue #1, but I'll order it online sometime.
Meanwhile, I see what you mean about the book. It's got a real Twilight Zone "vibe" while not directy stealing anything. This issue does give me vague deja vu to "Elegy" and the Star Trek episode "Shore Leave," and maybe some others. But it's not a direct swipe -- it was more of a feeling than a specific narrative. I didn't know where the story was going (which I appreciate).
On the downside, I didn't much care for Scioli's art. Normally I'd be annoyed at all the text describing to me what I was already seeing, but in this case, I didn't mind the help. And the three men on the expedition quickly became visually interchangeable to me. That's partly my fault, due to aging vision, but it's also Scioli's cartoony and not very detailed art.
I missed issue #1...
Yeah, it doen't matter in which order you read them.
...the Star Trek episode "Shore Leave"
That's the one I was alluding to.
I'm glad to have someone reading this series along with me.
ISSUE #3:
This issue, written and drawn (and lettered) by James Stokoe (with whose work I am unfamiliar), blew me away! The intro didn't sound much like Rod Serling's "voice" to me, but it nevertheless sucked me in. It is well-written throughout, and the art is exquisite, highly detailed. The story takes a turn on page ten, then another on page 19 (of 22). I won't say the premise is entirely original, but I've never seen it handled better. I don't want to say too much about it, lest I give too much away.
The covers: The "A" cover (by James Stokoe) didn't strike me as being particularly "Twilight Zone-y," so I bought the "B" (by Francesco Francavilla). If I'd've read the story first, I may have chosen the "A" cover. What tipped the scale toward the "B" was the cover copy (company logo, issue number, price and UPC), all of which appear on the front of the "A" but the back of the "B". (There is a "C" cover as well.)
This issue also has a five-page preview of the first issue of Smile for the Camera (or "Smile: For the Camera"), on sale February 18. I almost never read previews, but this one looks intriguing.
I actually kinda guessed where this was going. In the beginning I thought, "Huh, they seem to be going out of their way to avoid establishing exactly when this happened. Look at the mix of eras in the arms and armor." Then the flag/cape showed up, and people started singing jingles, and I thought "Ohhhhh." And I thought "What could be in the last room?" And I knew it wouldn't be anything conventional, plus there were the jingles, and I remembered The Gods Must Be Crazy and half a dozen short stories with a similar ending.
But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. Sometimes it's the journey, and this was a fun journey. Plus, it would be far too expensive as a TV show, so this is going to be the only way to get stories like this until AI replaces actors, sets, props and probably the audience.
Oh, I ordered Twilight Zone #1 with some other stuff from, I want to say, Westfield. And I was credited because they were sold out.
I finally read the first issue! (Digitally. Still don't have a copy.) You said:
This first issue is written by Dan Watters, and he definitely has Rod Serling's distinctive patois down pat. I had no trouble hearing Serling's voice in my mind's ear as I read the opening and closing narration. The plot, too, is very Serling-esque, about a dying rich man obsessed with eliminating death, and yes, befefitting all mankind. (Spoiler: It doesn't work out that way.) The story is drawn in an impressionistic style by artist Morgan Beem. Instead of detail, we get mood. It's not beautiful on the surface, but sometimes beauty rests in the design rather than in perfect delineation of a character or thing.
And I can't add or change a thing. Great story, so-so art. Very Twilight-Zone-ish.
When I read your post originally, I thought of all the stories I've read where people defeat death, and nothing dies. Which turns out to be a terrible thing. We're overrun with insects within a month, and people who are suffering never die and remain in suffering forever, and so forth. At the end we get some sort of speech about how death is a necessary part of life, blah, blah.
This was not that.
And I can't add or change a thing.
You could have corrected my typo. :)
"Befefitting"? Sheesh!
I must have had too much cofveve.
Or not enough. :)
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