Assorted Crisis Events #8
Chad Burdette
Recap
In Assorted Crisis Events, time doesn’t play by the rules. Ordinary people face broken timelines, looping days, space portals, wayward travelers from different eras, and alternate versions of themselves — all while walking down the street.
Time is having a crisis. Mingling in the red-light district, you can find actual cavemen, medieval knights, and cyborg soldiers on leave from World War IV. Victorian debutantes amble their way into cell phone stores, confused and bewildered (what is a data plan?). On their way to work, bleary-eyed commuters get trapped in time-loops, assaulted by alternate-reality versions of themselves, and try to avoid post-apocalyptic wastelands. And LOOK: the 3:15 bus just took a wrong turn... into the neolithic era.
A homeless comic book artist falls into the gutters — literally! Can Wally find his way back to life and reality, or is he lost in the blank white space between panels forever?
Review
One would think that eight issues into a series, things might get a bit boring or cliché, but Assorted Crisis Events continues to please and find new ways to surprise and make readers think about more than just the story. The series continues to feel like an episode of the Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, in comicbook form.
As expected Camp takes the comic format and page structure,specifically the gutters (space between panels) and makes it a part of the storyline. This breaking the fourth-wall, a trope of characters such as Deadpool or Harley Quinn, is used here more as a storytelling device than a means for the main character to wisecrack with the reader. In the span of 32 pages the Camp and Zawadzki are able to tell a story and create a character that is easy to empathize with and evoke strong feels for as his life story ebbs, flows, and eventually leads to his ends as he revolves into oblivion while using the gutters as a Limbo/ purgatory for a comic book artist.
The ending brings everything full circle and provides the much needed cathartic moment even though it seems expected. This issue is also great because a bit of the mystery behind the old man, a constant cameo since issue one is revealed, within name Chris Crisis aka The Broken Man.
Zawadzki gets to show off his range artwise, as he presents not only his usual clean-linework, but his take on the Golden / Silver Age romance comicbook style, which the protagonist uses in his job as a comic book artist.
Final Thoughts
Assorted Crisis Events #8 is incredible, and continues this series' amazing run. Miss it at your own detriment.
Assorted Crisis Events #8
- Writing - 10/1010/10
- Storyline - 10/1010/10
- Art - 10/1010/10
- Color - 10/1010/10
- Cover Art - 10/1010/10
