Eclipse #1

The first issue in the Zack Kaplan penned and Giovanni Timpano drawn post apocalyptic series from Image Comics.

The Cover

The cover of this book speaks to desolation.  It features a man in some sort of protective suit – he looks like an astronaut.  Behind him is blinding light and the ruins of a city.  In the foreground is a charred hand, obviously burned to a crisp by the sun.  The book looks neat, and the protective suit and desolation featured prominently hint that this new world is not a safe place.

The Art

Giovanni Timpano handles the interior duties on this book, and is backed up by Betsy Gonia as colourist in this issue.  The interior art is great.  Timpano does a great job making you think nothing is amiss at first, drawing a bustling city full of people out enjoying a busy night on the town.  It’s only when the sun hits that we see that the city is actually quite desolate, as everyone heads underground to avoid the lethal rays of the sun.  Gonia does a great job colouring the differences between night and day, and makes the daytime sun seem especially harsh and unforgiving.

The Story

The story is set in Earth’s future, 10 years after a solar flare has devastated the planet.  The sun has changed and now burns humans if they aren’t wearing protective suits.  As a result humans have fled underground.  This issue focuses on introducing this new world, in particular one technician named Baxter, who finds a burned body above ground.  He soon is recruited to protect the next target of the suspected killer:  the daughter of Solarity’s CEO.

The first issue does a great job introducing the world, and the art supports the story brilliantly.  This is a great sci-fi book, and well worth picking up.  If you can’t find individual issues, look for a trade!