The Displaced #1: There’s a Hole, There’s a Hole, There’s a Hole at the Bottom of This Town

The Displaced #1 follows a group of folks who live everyday lives in a small Canadian town when all of the sudden, the town disappears. Things seemingly could not get worse for the residents of the town who happened to be outside of its borders when it disappeared, until the world around them starts to forget that the town ever existed as a new town appears in its place. Feeling one part Lost and one part Under the Dome, The Displaced looks to be an exploration of this great tragedy through the lives of its characters and their new world.

Writer Ed Brisson does a great job in writing these characters and establishing their lives and personalities well before their town disappears. The established pathos genuinely generates an emotional response when the world changes before them. Through one issue, Brisson is able to make this world and these characters compelling enough to elicit a genuine need to see what happens in future issues. If the rest of this series is able to keep up with this momentum then this may end up being one of the best new series this year. 

The art from Luca Casalanguida works great for this series, with the characters feeling very lifelike despite the science fiction nature that serves as the impotence behind this series. Casalanguida makes it easy to empathize with these characters, giving them honest reactions and expressions when faced with a great tragedy. The art is not perfectly lifelike but not everyone is going to draw like Alex Ross, and Casalanguida gives this book a flair that makes that all the better. Dee Cunniffee’s colors build on this, giving the book a very dynamic feel, practically making this world feel a built noir. There is also a beautiful sequence where a bus is set ablaze, showcasing Cunniffee’s strong coloring and powerful use of shadow.

Rounding out the creative team is Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou on letters, who brings the same flair to this series that he does with The Flash. Otsmane-Elhaou really adds a sense of emotion to the dialogue by truly giving the words a sense of tone. An opening sequence involving a crying baby is emblematic of this, with the baby’s cry filling the pages around the dialogue between the characters. This helps elevate the reading of the series, really making the scenes feel lifelike.