From critically acclaimed writer Zac Thompson and visionary artist Hayden Sherman comes part two of the S.I.N.E.W expedition’s ill-fated journey into a Lovecraftian labyrinth.
For centuries, The UnBeing, a seemingly malevolent corpse, has swallowed all who dare tread near its sprawling mass. Now, the last survivors of a climate science team are trapped inside with only a mysterious humanoid known as The Stranger to guide them out. This incomprehensible Stranger claims to be a 19th Century British explorer. It claims to know the way back to the surface. It claims a new world is on its way. Perhaps if you listen closely, you can hear it breathing. But what is the cost of this new world? And who will be left to live in it?
Picking up directly after the events of Part One, the remaining survivors form a distrustful and desperate team. Together they must journey across impossible landscapes and contend with their own changing biology in order to find their way back home. As their journey into the Unbeing deepens, the series’ most disturbing questions are answered…but the answers offer little comfort.
Into the Unbeing is an adventure into the sublime from the critically acclaimed writer Zac Thompson (Cemetery Kids Don't Die, Romulus) and visionary artist Hayden Sherman ( Dark Patterns, Absolute Wonder Woman).
Zac Thompson is a writer born and raised on Prince Edward Island, Canada. He's written titles like Marvelous X-Men, Cable, and X-Men: Black for Marvel Comics. Along with indie books such as Her Infernal Descent, Relay, and The Replacer.
In 2019, Zac became the showrunner of the Age of X-Man universe at Marvel Comics. His critically acclaimed miniseries, Come Into Me, was called the best horror comic of 2018 by HorrorDNA. His debut comic series, The Dregs, was called "lowbrow brilliant" by New York Magazine. His novel, Weaponized, was the winner of the 2016 CryptTV horror fiction contest.
1. The art is beautiful, as it was in volume 1. I especially appreciate how Thompson and Sherman designed the layout of pages. Nice work.
2. Is this the end? If so, it's not much of an end. If so, it's an end without something to say. This feels like it was supposed to be three volumes, so maybe a third is on the way?
3. The series still feels too derivative of Annihilation, without enough characterisation for it to work as psychological horror.
4. More page long diary texts, sometimes two pages now - not a fan. More forced poetic language - also not a fan.
5. I do like the character of Edwin, and how another character perceives him.
6. The close ups of eyes, already there in volume 1.. they're still here and they don't do anything for me.
7. I noticed a couple of spelling mistakes in volume 1 and I saw at least one in this volume too ("faun over" instead of "fawn over") - I read an advance copy, so that might be fixed in the published version.
8. Still a terrible title. Very clunky.
9. I've said this before about Thompson as a writer - his writing tends to agressively rub me up the wrong way, but I do appreciate that he takes chances, tries to do something different.
Overall an interesting series that in the end seems to not go anywhere.
(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)
The art was strange and interesting. For some reason this story was hard to read. It felt dull and confusing to me. Interesting concept but the delivery was a total rip off of the movie ‘Descent’.