While Warren Ellis may have returned mostly to Marvel superheroes these days, he hasn't given up entirely on the genre exploration that he began in a variety of Wildstorm miniseries, and that's good news, since that's the kind of thing that gave us Global Frequency and Orbiter. Ocean, with art by America's Best Comics alumni Sprouse and Story, reads very much like a cross between Alan Moore's imaginative ABC line and Ellis's sci-fi miniseries, with a sense of optimistic wonder oddly mixing with a touch of otherworldly mystery and conspiracy. It is not unlike previous Ellis works, and if you're one of those who believes that Ellis's work has become a bit formulaic, this miniseries won't change your mind, and it starts a little slow, another familiar tic of Ellis's current style, but it's got an intriguing premise and is well crafted.
Ocean's lead is Nathan Kane, a U.N. weapons inspector cast in the mold of a Heinlein hero, someone intelligent who understands future technology perfectly but sets himself apart from it deliberately as well. Ellis may draw his stories out somewhat, but it's clear that it's not because he lacks the capacity for economy of storytelling. Two of the key moments of Kane's characterization come in one or two lines of dialogue, as the person scanning him is surprised to see him with a book or another person questions him about his choice of weapons in an impromptu fight. Ellis fills in a fair amount of detail about the person and the world he lives in during this first issue.
However, while Ocean has an intriguing lead character, it is definitely an idea-driven story more than a character-driven story. The notion is that something has been found by ocean miners on Europa, Jupiter's moon, is the central motivator here. Ellis and Sprouse set things up with a creepy, slow burn opening sequence where the miners make a horrific discovery that will bring Kane to the station. The pacing and layout on this sequence reminds me very much of the opening sequence of Ultimate Nightmare, making use of a lot of space to really extend and amplify the horror and the overwhelming nature of the threat. Like that sequence, I suspect it will divide opinion. For my part, I liked it, and found that it gave a sense of the isolation of the locale and the sheer horror of finding something like that there, even if the result is that the first issue is a little bit light in terms of story.
The story might be mostly setup here, and really only half of the important setup, but the artwork kept me involved. Sprouse, Story and colorist Randy Mayor really sell the notion of a futuristic New York, intercutting modern-day (and older) buildings in with new, sleek, high-tech structures, which is the way cities really tend to grow. In addition, little things like a sign that shows how much inflation has caused the price of bagels to rise or street-level matter disintegrators instead of trash cans give a sense of the future while maintaining the sense of a real city. They're no less accomplished on the space sequences, which really give a sense of the claustrophobia of an underground mining operation or the strange feeling of being surrounded by too much space that would come with space travel.
Ocean is a gorgeous looking and intriguing book built around a strong central character and a great teaser of a concept. Time will tell whether the rest of the concept is as interesting, or if Ellis will reveal it sooner rather than later. Honestly, the way that Ultimate Nightmare has dragged on gives me some pause, as I see some of the same pacing on this first issue of Ocean, but I hold out hope that the story will play out more smoothly here. Certainly fans of science-fiction in the Asimov or Heinlein vein (with a distinctive Ellis twist) would be well-advised to give Ocean a look. 7/10
