Fabian Nicieza's name is practically synonymous with super-heroes. He wrote the adventures of Marvel's premiere property, the X-Men, for years, and he even oversaw an entire line of super-hero comics for Acclaim in the mid-1990s. So this story about conspiracies and the supernatural is quite a change of pace for the veteran comics scribe. Better than that, though, is the fact that this may very well be the finest story he's ever crafted. A fascinating premise, well-crafted characters and artwork that captures the foreboding mood of the script makes for a hell of a read.
Richard Kaine is on top of the world... because he's at the top of the New York Times best-seller list. He's got fame and fortune, not to mention a parade of women going through his bedroom. But somehow, the experience leaves him unfulfilled. Even worse, he's hallucinating, seeing green echoes of the past. He feels overwhelmed, and just when things can't seem to get any crazier, people start to believe the tale of his historical fiction novel as the truth. It's as though he's exposed an age-old conspiracy and secret society to the world without even meaning to do so.
Raffaele's work here reminds me a great deal of the horror and Western genre work that Tony DeZuniga did for DC Comics in the 1970s and '80s. There's a gritty, textured look to the artwork that brings realism to the story, but also an inky, foreboding darkness that reinforces the creepier and more fantastic elements. The colors add greater depth to the visuals, and I liked how a trick that puts one in mind of the old style of comics coloring is used in the opening scene to set it apart from the rest of the book.
Nicieza has achieved a nice balance between grounded elements of terror -- in the form of the supposedly fictional conspiracy -- and eerie visions of an urban landscape overgrown with vegetation. The most striking moment in the book is when Richard sees vines climbing up into the sky to fill in the space left by the destruction of the World Trade Center. Though it was one of the more supernatural events in the script, the real-world reference hooks the reader, tapping into real fears in order to enhance the effect of imagined ones.
The greatest strength of the book -- even better than the strong pacing and development of a tense atmosphere -- is the core premise. An author writes a novel, and in the process, he unknowingly threatens the secrets of dark souls. I also appreciate the fact that the protagonist here isn't a square-jawed, heroic archetype. He comes off as a weak little man who's been swept up into something that's far beyond him.
