Mind-bending sci-fi collides with Cold War thriller in this six-issue miniseries by the bestselling and Eisner-winning creative team behind GIDEON FALLS!
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino, Dave Stewart
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: September 15, 2021
Cover Price: $3.99
In 1957, the USSR launched the dog, Laika, into Earth's orbit. Two years later, the USA responded with two monkeys, Able and Baker. These animals never returned. But, unbeknownst to everyone, they did not die in orbit...they were taken. And now they are coming home.
Score:
★★★★1/2 (4.5/5)
Few things can pique the interest of a comic book reader like a good ole conspiracy thriller. The latest example is the excellent new series from James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds entitled 'The Department of Truth' that's been a bestseller for Image Comics. It proposes conspiracy theories can be all-too-real and for Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, and Dave Stewart the same can be said of the world they envision in 'Primordial' that is specifically set in the Cold War of the 1960s.
The Space Race caught the imagination of people all over the world but what if these governments lied about what really happened to the animals they sent to space in test missions? What if what happened was so detrimental to the program that it caused them to abandon the pursuit and shutter it? Issue one lays these questions before readers with a stylistic noir-infused sci-fi drama.
Lemire writes an involving and captivating mystery that unfolds slowly, leaving bread crumbs for readers to collect, and piece together much like the protagonist in the story. Dr. Pembrook arrives at Cape Canaveral thinking he's there to aid in the space program, but the electrical engineering doctorate from MIT soon finds his true purpose as well as some passive-aggressive racism instead. The data reveals that the two monkeys the U.S. sent up did not perish but were somehow taken. This leads to some shadowy 'All the President's Men'-type of conspiracy meetings with Pembrook. Lemire is a piped piper just drawing the reader along, going deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole along with Pembrook, and before you know it you're hooked.
The script is great as only Lemire can write. It's compelling and intriguing while not wholly original in its setup. That's not a negative because the vehicle that drives this thriller is the out-of-this-world visuals supplied by Sorrentino and Stewart. Panel structures that seem to break apart and disintegrate before your eyes. Images that are overexposed with objects seemingly melting. The use of the Ben-Day dots throughout like pages of paper print from a bygone era. And frankly, there are splash pages that have to be seen to do them the justice that words simply could not.
'Primordial' #1 is an enticing read that will suck you in. There's no escaping Lemire's spider web and the hypnotic art by Sorrentino and Stewart. Resistance is futile for this conspiracy thriller that's built on style and substance. Prepare to go down the rabbit hole willingly.
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