Assorted Crisis Events Vol. 1

Assorted Crisis Events #1-5

by Deniz Camp, Eric Zawadzki (Cover Art)

An action-packed sci-fi anthology series following normal people navigating an alternate world where time is having a crisis, and just stepping outside your door can send you on an unexpected adventure.Time is having a crisis.Mingling in the red-light district, you can find actual cavemen, medieval knights, and cyborg soldiers on leave from World War IV. Victorian debutantes amble their way into cell phone stores, confused and bewildered (what is a data plan?). On their way to work, bleary-eyed commuters get trapped in time-loops, assaulted by alternate-reality versions of themselves, and try to avoid post-apocalyptic wastelands. And the 3:15 bus just took a wrong turn…into the neolithic era.Rising stars DENIZ CAMP (20TH CENTURY MEN, The Ultimates) and ERIC ZAWADZKI (House of El) and Eisner winners JORDIE BELLAIRE and HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU are proud to present ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS, an ongoing, zig-zagging anthology series about the compromised clicks of our clocks—full of one-shot stories both beautiful and ugly, tragic and redemptive, surreal and somehow all too familiar.Stories of people (and reality) in CRISIS—trying to keep it together while the world is falling apart, second by twisted second…Collects ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS #1-5

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Time Travel, Fiction, Comic Book

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2025

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assorted Crisis Events is a collection of five tales in a world where the laws of time and space are breaking down. Deniz Camp is a gifted writer and I can't wait to see what he does years down the road. Eric Zawadzki, Jordie Bellaire, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou handle the art chores and the lettering and play a big part in how the book lands. The designers, Tom Mullin and Wesley Griffith, also play a big part in the feel of the book.

It reminds me of Ice Cream Man more than anything else, being that is an anthology with one common character, in this case the old man with the jetpack, and the varying structures of the stories. What cause the multiverse to begin unraveling isn't revealed and isn't all that important. I don't really want to spoil anything but the tales are unsettling and the look of the book adds to the uneasy tone of the stories.

[Gera Sandoval · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basically, Deniz Camp is my new favorite comic writer. Issue #2 of this is the best single issue of the year. I can actually see it being taught at schools.

[Utkarsh Bansal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some day I'll have read everything ever written by Deniz Camp, and that day I shall become unstoppable.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this so much. As a huge fan of Deniz Camp's past work on his Ultimates and Martian Manhunter, my expectations for his creator-owned title, Assorted Crisis Events Volume 1, were incredibly high, but this book ultimately didn't do it for me. The core concept is awesome tho! A world fractured by a Time Crisis, leading to cavemen, medieval knights, and cyborg soldiers appearing in modern society, and ordinary people dealing with time-loops and alternate-reality attacks.

The first story, featuring Ashley trying to fix her deceased parents' clock amidst the chaos, is the strongest, successfully blending comedy and horror. However, the main problem is the characters. I simply couldn't connect with or care about any of the rotating leads in this anthology structure.

The fragmented approach, especially from Issue #2 onward, where we see rapid, back and forth panel jumps (such as in the dinosaur/slaughterhouse story), felt more disorienting than effective. While later issues tackle rich themes, like the doppelganger refugees in Issue #3 serving as an allegory for xenophobia, or the exploration of mortality in Issue #4, but they just lack the personal stakes.

Obviously, most reviewers love this book, praising its meta-commentary on our current era of constant crisis, but for me, the lack of a compelling emotional anchor meant I liked the idea more than the stories sadly. A 3 out of 5.

[Odo · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

[A Serious Firefighter · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Next day or next week (it’s impossible to which), I wake up to a fascist nightmare.”

“But I still gotta go to work.”

Good lord this series!

Issue 4 about time flying hit hard 😵‍💫4.5

[Allie Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it. Read it. Read it. Guys I cannot stress enough how genius and relevant this book is and the artistry is just out of this world. It might fill you with existential dread but also some clarity and enlightenment and it’s worth it!

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Individual, self-contained, possibly connected stories of time losing its way. An absolutely must re-read for me.

Read as individual issues.

[Bertazzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if the Crisis on Infinite Earths affected normal people? Just brilliant - writing and narrative. I think #2 was one of the best single issues I've read in my life.

[Iñigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

De los mejores cómics que he leído en mucho tiempo.

Este primer volumen de Assorted crisis events recoge los 5 primeros números, que aunque no están directamente relacionados y se pueden leer independientemente, forman un conjunto de historias sobre nuestro mundo contemporáneo, en el que el tiempo y el espacio están colapsando sobre sí mismos.

La segunda historia me ha encantado, y me ha recordado muchísimo al número de watchmen en el que el Dr. Manhattan experimenta toda su vida a la vez. Es increíble. Y mejor que increíble, es uno de esos pocos cómics que no se podrían llevar a ningún otro medio, ni la TV, ni el cine, ni los videojuegos…

Estoy deseando seguir leyendo todo lo que saque Deniz Camp.

[Jorge Sáez · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️5⭐️

Qué barbaridad de cómic. Cinco capítulos con historias independientes que te dejan con el culo torcido y con el mismo regusto que dejaban los mejores capítulos de Black Mirror (para mí el tercero, el mejor). Lo que más brilla de este volumen es la capacidad del guionista y del dibujante de explotar al máximo los recursos idiomáticos del comic, obligando al lector a perderse en sus páginas y, al igual que los protagonistas, a sentirse desorientado en el tiempo y el espacio. Un 10 rotundo.

[Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deniz Camp I am in love with you. Camp has quickly become my MVP in the comics scene with his wildly creative approach to Absolute Martian Manhunter, and his radical anti-fascist sprawling story telling in The Ultimates. Assorted Crisis Events is another favorite to add to my list now, an anthology series each set around the premise that time is falling apart at the seams. Each issue follows a different character's or setting's response to this rather vague but all encompassing crisis. Issue #1 you follow the daily life of a girl who has to face whatever falls in front of her on the way to work, be it the ever changing movie set in front of her apartment, or the fact her job temporally shifted and now has no records or memory of her existence. Issue #2 is a beautiful, grotesque, and moving story following a man who works as a killer in a meat factory. Issue #3 follows the conflict of a town Hearth, where citizens from an alternate timeline, Hearth 2, immigrate from their doomed universe. Issue #4 is about a man who finds that his entire life moves by faster than he can even comprehend, panel to panel it seems years go by. With the flash of a camera suddenly he has 3 kids, in the blink of an eye his hair line is non existent. And Issue #5 follows the traumatic aftermath of a little girl who was stuck perceiving the same 60 seconds of her father slapping her mother for what could have been millions of years. Each issue handles the collapse of time in an interesting and unique way, each issue is unflinching in where it decides to push the characters, and each issue is beautifully colored and drawn. The paneling is an especially huge highlight for this comic. More than once while reading Volume 1 did I find myself feeling the influence of the issue in Watchmen where Doctor Manhattan reflect back on his own life, constantly flashing back and forth decades of his lived experience. I very much look forward to a Volume 2, and I loved this first volume.

[Michael J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS is an ambitious experimental anthology series, each issue by the same creators and exploring a complete-in-one-issue story set in the same universe where time has gone wonky. Each protagonist handles the calamity in their own individual ways.

It can get confusing at times, and the story doesn’t always work. But when it succeeds it achieves greatness. The title seems to defy standard genre labels. I’d call it psychological profiles, slice-of-life stories in unusual settings.

I read this series in the individual monthly issues. While I wouldn't give each issue a five-star rating, this is a solid endeavor and worth investigating by anyone interested in more literary efforts in the comics medium. My issue-by-issue reviews provide more details below . . . .

ASSOCIATED CRISIS EVENTS #1
         Main character this issue is Ashley, who’s lost family members and seems completely alone in this time-twisted world. She goes through the same routine every morning - walking to work (and sometimes it’s in a different time zone where she doesn’t work there) to help keep her grounded. The neighborhood surrounding her apartment has become a favored movie set for several post-apocalyptic or World War IV films - - and she keeps walking through the filming and causing the directors to angrily yell “Cut!”. This happens often, along with time-displaced humans and aliens walking the streets. One day she witnesses a parade of Nazis and finds a crying Nazi officer - only to realize that he’s just another actor on a film set. Constantly walking by movie sets adds to Ashley’s confusion and that is the main conflict here - which is not resolved happily. 
THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.

ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS #2
     The story does not unfold in linear fashion, with multiple flashbacks and varying times in overlapping scenes. Camp and Zawadzki have assembled a jigsaw puzzle, and it’s up to readers to put the pieces in the right places. Issue #2’s setting within a meat-packing slaughterhouse of cattle is not going to make readers comfortable (blood, severed limbs, horrific scenes).

     Zawadzki plays with repetitive images while Campi teases us with repetitive dialogue - - do we get it, or are we just as confused and turning manic as the main character is? 

     Zawadzki puts characters in the foreground with darker lines and sketches the background with lighter strokes. Jordie Bellaire on colors enhances the appearance with vivid colors in the foreground and muted hues of the same color plus white in the background. The overall effect makes it look like a 3-D panel. 

     Issue #2 didn’t need the intrusion of flesh-eating dinosaurs at the end of the story - - but that helped make some points (if you can figure out the message). The story was disturbing enough before that happened. That is really the only time-related event in this story, except for the reappearance of the doom-sayer elderly man (from Issue #1) in one panel/scene.

     After reading this issue, I’m going to remember some of these scenes the next time I eat red meat.(Which I definitely need to cut back on).

     I”m not entirely sure that I understand what Camp is saying here, so I won’t attempt to summarize the story. Basically, it’s one man’s gradual descent into madness as the continued repetition of certain images/scenes from his life begin to trouble him. FOUR STARS.
  
ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS #3 With Issue #3, ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS realizes its’ potential in a huge way. Just like EC Comic’ various anthology series back in the 1950’s went beyond the quality art and story-telling to speak to topical issues of the times and make an implied statement about our society (like a mini-morality play) Camp and Zawadzki craft a story that reflects on global issues - especially within our country right now. 
   


I am reminded of an old comics story that I once read in an EC  paperback reprint that caught my eye from a drugstore book spinner rack back in the 1960’s. In it, an astronaut from Earth visits a new planet inhabited by two classes of robots, distinguished by color from blue to red. One class looks down upon the other, segregates and abuses them, until the astronaut helps them realize that both classes have equal skill sets, abilities, and other commonalities. When the astronaut returns to his spaceship and removes his helmet, we learn that he is a black man. Very powerful story-telling considering the segregation that occurred in the Southern U.S. then, and well into the early ’60’s.


   In ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS #3 there are a multitude of parallel worlds, specifically a small town on Hearth 1 and Hearth 2, both inhabited by “Hearthlings”. The town and its’ citizens are identical in every way (including names and families) except for one distinct difference. Hearth 2 is suffocating from global warming and is dangerous to remain there. The citizens look for a way out and find a portal leading them to Hearth 1.

     Imagine opening your front door to be greeted by a family that appear to be duplicates of your family. At first, Hearth 2 residents are welcome and incorporated into the Hearth 1 community. Then, differences begin to appear, suspicion arises, followed by envy, resentment, and conflicts. 

      The mayor is the voice of reason: “Put yourselves in their shoes! Which are also our shoes!” His political opponent, speaks in opposition: “My question is, where does it end? . . . First, it’s Hearth-Two, next thing you know it’s Hearth-Three and Four, Hearth-52, Hearth-616 . . .”

       I won’t spoil by going any further. This deserves several reads, especially for the creative use of mirror images. The left page showcases what happens featuring the point-of-view of Hearth 1 citizens. The right page mirror those scenes, but from the point-of-view of the soon oppressed Hearth 2 residents. Coloring by Jordie Bellaire and letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou also reflect the changes, becoming darker on the Hearth 2 pages.

        Camp has crafted a tale that will cause readers to reflect on the current immigration “crisis/invasion”. Issue #3 is one of my favorite stand-alone, one-shot stories of the year and will most likely make the top list at year end. FIVE STARS.

ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS #4 Following the high water mark that was Issue #3, ACE returns with a sad tale of a man who can’t catch up to time. From high school through college and into the working world Mike misses his wake-up calls, alarm bells, and start times - - always apologizing with the tired refrain: “I guess time just got away from me.”

Then through dating, marriage, children, divorce, and moving away there are big gaps in his memory of events. He’s always missed out on events and is unable to realize how much time has passed and how much he has aged - - - “time flies”, so “smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.”

The only constant in his life is his cigarette addiction and the old bearded man with the jetpack (seem in every issue of ACE so far) who shows up out of nowhere. The final time Mike sees him is when he finally catches up to time, as the clocks stops.

The story unfolds in fascinating and tragic fashion. The evocative art is highlighted by the use of just three colors, to great effect: orange, blue, and beige. FOUR AND ONE-HALF STARS.

ASSOCIATED CRISIS EVENTS #5 Ask anyone who has experienced trauma in their life, and they will tell you - - it never goes completely away. Now imagine trauma that occurs in childhood. The victims relive the experience for the rest of their lives.

Such is the case with young Anna. Sixty seconds of witnessing an argument between her parents that ends in violence - -and she sees endless repetitions no matter what she does. She’s stuck in a loop, and none of the doctors, counselors and analysts can help her get out of it. It plagues her into adulthood, and she even considers suicide but doesn’t see it through. The story ends on a dramatic moment where she breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to readers.

Sad, and disturbing. This one is going to bother me for a while. Some readers may dislike this book because of the presentation. Every page or double-page is a loop or a spiral. Sometimes text is
sideways or upside down causing readers to rotate the book, and enter the spiral in order to read it. Just remember to read this pages clockwise. FIVE STARS.

[David Goldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel collects a series of science fiction stories centered around the titular “crisis events” — a phenomenon where time is out of joint. The stories are not directly connected (at least, I don’t think they are), but each plays with our notions of time to explore psychological or social issues. Most of the stories involve characters trapped in a kind of time loop that is at once metaphorical, psychological, and phenomenological.
Zawadzki’s artwork is fantastic, adapting to each story while maintaining a fractured, disorienting style that perfectly matches the themes.
Story 1, “Apocalypse Wow,” features the adventures of a young woman living next door to a Hollywood production about a worldwide disaster — which begins to blend with a real-life phenomenon of time anomalies. Characters slip in and out of time until the dramatized apocalypse and the real thing merge.
Story 2, “Slaughterhouse 9–5,” is the least straightforward of the five stories but, to me, the most moving. A son takes over his father’s place in a highly industrialized meat processing plant, where the owners view their mass slaughter as a kind of higher calling. The son must endure the same torture as his father, as well as recurring Lovecraftian dreams of his father’s death. He perseveres in order to avoid deportation and protect his family. It’s never clear whether the grotesque, surreal imagery haunting him is psychological or supernatural — but it’s haunting regardless.
The next two stories are more straightforward science fiction analogies. Story 3, “Crisis on Hearth Two,” depicts two versions of the same town, where slight environmental differences cause the same people to act in dramatically different ways. When the two versions merge, the added pressure pushes “Hearth 1” to become disturbingly similar to our own world — turning away from its values and blaming others. There is a Twilight Zone-simple but effective message to this story. Story 4, “Time Flies,” is the most direct narrative, showing a character unraveling as time moves faster than expected.
Finally, Story 5, “Strange Loops,” is the visual standout. Zawadzki’s artwork is gripping throughout the book, but in “Strange Loops” he creates an entirely new visual language to match the story’s themes. Each page has a central image with text and images circling around, making a straightforward (yes, another time analogy) difficult. The main character suffers a traumatic episode of abuse that she relives again and again. Her life becomes a series of recurring time loops. She begins to notice stories of others experiencing the same phenomenon, and after several failed suicide loops, she realizes that the only way out is to help others who are also trapped in time.

[Alex Sarll]

"It's World War Three or Four out there today. Every week it's a new apocalypse. I can't keep track." You know the feeling, I'm sure. OK, we then get the reveal that the narrator is living on a street that's popular for filming disaster movies. But the next reveal is that, actually, reality is breaking down too, which you'd think might dent people's appetite for the fictional version, but somehow does not. If this all sounds a bit 'Aaaaahh'...well, yes, a little. But while Deniz Camp is very clearly jumping on the Ice Cream Man bandwagon with this series of standalone single-issue stories linked by an enigmatic background figure, he's also found a format which plays to his strengths and minimises his weaknesses. In the US comics mainstream mode, a single sequential serial following a small group of characters, his undoubted intelligence and engagement with the issues of the day don't always translate into believable (super)human interactions or coherent plotting – characters make portentous statements about things each other already know, the solidity of the worldbuilding is sacrificed to the points it needs to make about our own times. But give him characters we're only with briefly, narrating their predicaments to some unknown other (and so by default the reader), a world whose increasing incoherence is part of the point, and he's flying. It doesn't always land; the slaughterhouse issue is essentially a non-linear Flesh, which is not something I'm convinced we need, and the story where a small town's counterparts from a parallel Earth that died ever so slightly faster arrive as refugees is a story I've seen before, and better, most notably in Famous Men Who Never Lived. But my word, Time Flies, which weaponises the montage to follow a man who feels like every time he blinks one more chunk of his life has slipped away without him even getting to live it...ouch. And on art, Eric Zawadski mostly pulls off both the small-scale face acting and the formalist pyrotechnics the material requires, certainly with more variation than Ice Cream Man's Martin Morazzo – and if Zawadski's Moebius strip spread isn't quite up there with Mike Allred or JH Williams, well, what company to fall short of. Intermittently amazing, and always at least ambitious.

[Luke Muench · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a series where the premise is riffing on the DC Crisis events, this is a deep and at times emotionally profound book that surprised me, at least for the first 2 issues. This is not a series that you should be picking up for a light, fun romp, delving into difficult topics like the impact of abuse, a person's struggle to be an active participant in their own life, and how we treat the people around us. It's heavy stuff, but told tastefully while maintaining fictional, comic-booky twists that feel fitting to the topic being explored.

Having read a majority of the Ice Cream Man twice, none of this was overly surprising to me, although I do think in some ways this is more successful than that series and in other respects I think it isn't. Assorted Crisis Events does a fantastic job of covering the topics it chooses to talk about, feeling thorough, thoughtful, and typically holds a decent punch that helps you remember the conclusion of the issue days later. However, by the 3rd issue it could feel a little formulaic and how it goes about this; I found myself subconciously seeking out and identifying the real-world topic each issue was trying to discuss within the first few pages of each issue, deconstructing the allegories in a way that I feel can strip the story of it's "magic." It's a tick of mine since I've ID'ed the pattern, but I think it speaks to how that formulaic nature can get in the way of its messaging. Ice Cream Man, on the other hand, worked to do very creative and interesting things early on, only beginning to become stale after the first 30 issues or so. But, it definitely felt like it had a stronger penchant to "miss" at times due to its more inventive nature.

This isn't to say that 1 is better than the other outright, but I do think the comparison is warranted, being books from the same publisher that work to accomplish similar things. To me, I think Assorted Crisis Events was a great read for this first volume but I suspect could become tired if it's a series that sticks around too long (similar to ICM). I'd recommend trying out both books if any of this sounds appealing to you, and I am curious to follow up on the series as more issues are released.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Camp's premise is intriguing, at least for the long-time comics fan: we're all accustomed to reading stories in which reality or time break down as superheroes try to deal with some cosmic threat. How does this play out for regular people on the ground?

The first story portrays a woman whose block has become a nexus of fluctuating times and dimensions. Not a bad story, but I also think not the best story to start such a series with; it's quite violent and very dark, and if I had bought this as a single comic I'm unsure whether I'd have continued.

The other stories deal with more coherent issues. Camp's a very competent writer, and he and artist Zawadzki play with form in ways I find intriguing. But I feel like the stories suffer from an excess of earnestness: each one is clearly about An Important Issue (either political or psychological), and while engagingly told also feel quite lectury.

I've been seeing a lot of samples from Camp's writing online, but is the first from him that I've read in entirety, and it it seems to validate both the positive and negative comments I've read about him.

It's still an interesting comic and i encourage people to sample it and make up their own minds.

[Edward Salinas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know how to put my thoughts into words. No Spoilers Here! From reading The Ultimates and Martian Manhunter, Deniz Camp has become my favorite Comic Book writer and so it was obvious to me to read his other works starting with Assorted Crisis Events. I had previously read only issue 1 to just see if I would like it, and I loved it. I bought the trade a bit after that and I finally read it. Every issue is like a punch in the face with its themes, stories, and art. Eric Zawadzki’s art is so mesmerizing to look at and the colors from Jordie Bellaire just make every page something to just stare and wonder at. Issue 2 made my stomach turn with how graphic it was. Issue 3 I think is so relevant to today’s political climate and just everything going on in the world. It was not subtle at all but I liked that. Issue 4 was a highlight for me as I could relate to the struggles of the MC in this particular story. Issue 5 being the end was perfect as it still gave some hope in this crazy ass world. Very much appreciated after back to back crazy issues. I truly believe this solidifies Deniz Camp as my favorite writer as of right now and I am looking forward to reading the rest of ACE and his other works.

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
A great anthology of high-concept existential sci-fi with interesting art, as long as you don’t mind its mostly depressing tone. Each of its five stories conjures the emotional experience of some contemporary crisis, reframing it anew through a sci-fi imagining involving time travel or parallel universes or the like. Climate disaster, animal rights, economic precarity, immigration, and reactionary populism are all grappled with, though the most impactful issue to me might be the one depicting the much more localized and personal “crisis” of how fast life can pass us by.

In some ways, this reminds me of a more sober and sci-fi take on the anthology storytelling of Ice Cream Man. Camp occasionally verges on being too on the nose or mistaking dreary cynicism for mature philosophizing, but overall this is a unique treat among comics right now.

“But here’s the thing about fire—it spreads. The fires we set sometimes come back on us. It can all go up like so much dryer lint. All it takes is a stiff wind.”

“I…I don’t remember making a single decision in my life. By the time I realize what’s happening, the decision has already been made.”

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of issues (the first and third) were really good, but a lot of this was just individual people stuck in their own introspective stories (an immigrant in a slaughterhouse; a guy wondering how/why time is slipping away so fast; a girl stuck in a time loop and the continuing effects this has on her afterwards), which really got kind of old the second or third time around. I really liked the story of the two Hearths and what eventually happens as they try to assimilate with each other. And the first issue, with a sci-fi film being filmed outside and sci-fi storyline going on all around (Atypical Temporal Phenomena) was good, with the main character not sure if she was experiencing reality or not. The art is good throughout. I wish there was more inventiveness along the lines of the Hearthlings and the issues they have to deal with.

[Zaynab]

Man, this was on the nose, which I don't ever complain about (this might not even be a complaint), but it was aggressive. Issue 1 is genuinely incredible, I have not read anything else that more holistically captures the feeling of "the world might be ending but I still have to go to work". I really liked the way that it's set up as a collection of short time/reality bending stories, however ultimately I do think that just meant that some were more effective than others. I think which you like most will depend on who you are as a person.

The comic also manages to be visceral and evocative (if a bit obvious). I'd definitely read another volume and in presently ongoing comics (will it be continuing?), it would land near the top of ones I'd recommend.

[Sesana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology series reminds me of Astro City. Like Astro City, it's an anthology series that tries to take a grounded view of a comic book universe. This book totally excises superheroes, and instead is set in a world beset by constant temporal anomalies, starring only ordinary people. Each issue is a self-contained story, with its own protagonist and unique approach. The first issue is a black comedy, while the last is an intricate exploration of PTSD. The art and writing are uniformly fantastic. It's rare to have any kind of anthology that hits with every story, and this is one of those. This is marked as a first volume, which is exciting for me. I really want to see more.

[Trike · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology of parables about how time interacts with our lives, messes with our minds, alters how we move through the world. Suddenly you’re 50 when just last year you were 20. Stuck in that trauma loop of PTSD that feels like a meaner version of Groundhog Day, history and your life repeating, repeating, repeating, but sometimes just rhyming, but either way you’ve lost the plot somehow.

All told in the way only comics can. I’d rate this higher but it’s terribly depressing and I’m not sure I fully understood a couple of the stories.

[Henry Fosdike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is very, very good. It’s not particularly something I would rush to read again, but each of its five stories were captivating in their own way with some excellent writing and stunning art. The layout of the pages is fantastic, too. It’s quite unlike anything else currently available (to my mind).

The second story blew me away. It might be the best thing I’ve read this year. The third story was also phenomenal. Definitely seek this out as it plays with the comic book format beautifully.

[Nolan Buro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary. Give it to your friend that doesn't read comics but likes Kurt Vonnegut and The Twilight Zone. Tell them to read one issue a day, to space out the experience and soak in the ideas.

This comic uses highly structured and innovative art to tell 5 stories that are the perfect combination of character development and high-concept sci-fi. It's even funny too! Highest possible recommendation.

[Eva B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

House of Heroes in Oshkosh has been hyping this up a LOT in their weekly emails and it did not disappoint! Clever and gutting and timely and just the right amount of mindfucky. The art was gorgeous and the paneling was so cleverly done, especially in Crisis on Hearth-Two and Strange Loops. There is so much packed in here about trauma, about life, about cycles, and about hatred and it's just done so phenomenally well.

[MannyLikesPie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Another banger from Camp. My only complaint is I think issue 3&4 are weaker than everything else, but they are still very good. It’s just more noticeable when it’s only five issues long in the first trade. However issue 2 is one of the best single issues I’ve read of all time, and fantastic beginning and end

[Jesus Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite works from Deniz Camp and I am very excited to read more of his work. A culmination of short stories packed within a world where time works differently. The commentary and emotional themes explored are handled very well and really capturing what it means to be human. There’s a story I feel for everyone within this first volume.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've enjoyed both 20th Century Men and Absolute Martian Manhunter, so it must be me that's the problem here. I've read anthology comics that I've enjoyed but like Ice Cream Man, I think Assorted Crisis Events is too trippy for me without a solid base for me to latch onto. I "get" this series more than ICM, but it's still not exactly my jam.

[Rick Varco · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most ambitious graphic novels I have read in a long time. It sets out to push the boundaries of the medium. There were moments when I gasped at the power of a visual metaphor. It takes a little time to catch on to the spirit of the project but once you do it sticks with you. I feel like this will get a lot of rereads.