When I was growing up in the 1980s, we were immersed in the Cold War. The Day After had everyone on edge, fully aware of the possibility of nuclear war and the futility of duck-and-cover. Today, the buzz in science is all about genetics, but Moore takes us back to the Atomic Age in a story that puts one in mind of The X-Files. It's a well-crafted plot that uses the grounded notion of grief to open the door into an adventure into science, science-fiction and ghosts. The penciller isn't brand-new to the comics game, but he's still a relative unknown. Fortunately, he provides some richly detailed artwork that captures the human element in the middle of the all of the seemingly impossible and imaginative high-tech.
As a child, Sara Erie worshipped her father. Dr. Bill Erie was the lead scientist on a major underground particle-accelerator project, and Sara planned on devoting her life to science, just like her dad. But when a family friend and colleague is forced to tell the young girl her father died along with hundreds of others in an accident at the facility, she turns her back on that pursuit. It's now 19 years later and the site of her father's demise has finally been declared safe for investigation. Sara is determined to find out what happened, and she's willing to do anything to do so.
Villalobos's work here reminds me a bit of the styles of Mike (Teen Titans) McKone and industry legend Dick Giordano. The former's level of detail is at play here and the latter's simpler, more grounded approach is mirrored in Villalobos's art as well. The artist does an excellent job of capturing the main character at various ages, maintaining clarity in the storytelling (much of which is in flashback).
The script is just as accessible as well. Moore's plots -- the larger, cataclysmic one and the more emotional one -- get moving quickly, and the reader gets involved in the story right away. Sara's search for answers about her father's fate is easily comparable to Mulder's quest for his sister in The X-Files. I think my favorite bit is the scene in which an adult, breaking the news of a father's death to a little girl, gets lost in his own fears and grief, thinking about his career as opposed to the innocent in front of him. That sort of understandable gaffe struck me as truly genuine.
Steve Niles has quickly carved out a strong reputation in the industry for top-notch horror comics, and he's done so rather loudly. Conversely, Stuart Moore has slowly but steadily built a strong reputation for solid science-fiction comics. He hasn't made as much noise as Niles has, but like Niles, he's definitely a writer working outside of the major two publishers we should be watching.
