Wednesday 4 September 2013

So I Read The Massive: Black Pacific

Or a 250 word (or less) review of The Massive Volume 1
By Brian Wood, Kristian Donaldson, Garry Brown, and Dave Stewart; Dark Horse Books



One of the problems with trying to make informed decisions is that they require, well, information. So when confronted with something really important but utterly outside our experience, we lack the context to really understand consequences and make the best decisions. And this is just compounded when the choice in question is beyond all of humanity's experience, something never seen before. Which is the value of The Massive: a comic designed to illustrate the consequences of uncontrolled Climate Change and Global Warming. Specifically, The Massive: Black Pacific tells the story of the Ninth Wave activist crew of the Kapital as they search a world decimated by ecological disaster for their sister ship The Massive. Lead by mercenary turned pacifist Callum Isreal, ex-Tamil Tiger Mag Nagendra, and the mysterious Mary, the group must negotiate their way to water, food, and fuel in a globe rapidly running out to fuel their search. The Massive: Black Pacific is an eco-thriller of worst-case scenario proportions that emphasizes just how fucked humanity is if we ruin our habitat. The comic is, fortunately, quite cerebral, laying out ghastly scenarios, but in a smart reasonable way: less “the sky is falling” hysteria and more logical, but inconvenient truths illustrated with haunting beauty and human drama. Black Pacific also does an effective job introducing us to a pretty compelling mystery likely important to the ongoing comic. The Massive: Black Pacific is a solid first chapter in what looks to be a thoughtful, exciting, and engrossing new comic.


Word count: 249

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