The Twilight Zone, Volume Three: The Way Back

by J. Michael Straczynski

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels

120 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

About the author

Joseph Michael Straczynski is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison.
Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009), was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012), and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics.
A prolific writer across a variety of media and former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers and Artisans.
Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show. Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated.

Reviews

[Terry Mulcahy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Volume 3, of 3 volumes. It's be good to read all three. They are a set of stories told from different viewpoints. Each story closely resembles Rod Serling's stories about people in trouble, bad people making trouble for themselves, or good people simply caught up in another dimension in time or space. By writing all three volumes this way, Straczynski takes Serling's ideas one step further by letting us see the connections that link people and showing how each of them has an encounter with an intermediate, undefined situation, and how they deal with it. Moral lessons for all.
I feel that this approach takes some of the tension, or mystery out of the stories, which could be the point. After all, this is life we're dealing with, and it is often unpredicable, unfair, and convoluted in ways we don't understand. Sometimes we all feel like we're living in twilight.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a strong finish to a very well done series. Solid artwork and a strong, layered narrative. It is better than some of the original episodes. Not many, but a few.

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the tie ins to the other two volumes, but I think this one basically gave away the "twist" early in the book- even earlier than it's presented usually.

[Jesse A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nicely done. A shaky series overall but this last volume really cleaned up the whole thing.