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Section Zero #0
Section Zero Volume 0: There Is No Section Zero
There is no Section Zero.
Section Zero isn't a secret section of the United Nation's charter. It does not perpetually fund a team of experts and explorers to investigate the fantastic and unknown. The idea that this "team" looks into things such as UFOs, Monsters, Lost Civilizations, Time Travel, Ancient Gods, and still-living Dinosaurs is nothing but an urban myth.
After all, none of these things exist.
Following THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN and their acclaimed runs on SUPERBOY, Karl Kesel [HARLEY QUINN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, SUICIDE SQUAD] and Tom Grummett [AVENGERS ACADEMY, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN] launched their creator-owned high-octane adventure series SECTION ZERO in 2000... reluctantly putting it on hiatus after only three issues.
18 years later, they return to finish what they began.
Section Zero isn't a secret section of the United Nation's charter. It does not perpetually fund a team of experts and explorers to investigate the fantastic and unknown. The idea that this "team" looks into things such as UFOs, Monsters, Lost Civilizations, Time Travel, Ancient Gods, and still-living Dinosaurs is nothing but an urban myth.
After all, none of these things exist.
Following THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN and their acclaimed runs on SUPERBOY, Karl Kesel [HARLEY QUINN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, SUICIDE SQUAD] and Tom Grummett [AVENGERS ACADEMY, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN] launched their creator-owned high-octane adventure series SECTION ZERO in 2000... reluctantly putting it on hiatus after only three issues.
18 years later, they return to finish what they began.
224 pages, ebook
Published September 1, 2018
1 person is currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Karl Kesel
1,068 books42 followersKarl Kesel (Victor, New York) is an American comics writer and inker whose works have primarily been under contract for DC Comics. He is a member of Periscope Studio. In 2017, he started Panic Button Press with Tom Grummett to publish the creator-owned graphic novel Section Zero.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 7, 2022
There is no Section Zero!
I contribute to more kickstarters than I should. I got this one as an add-on to an Impossible Jones kickstarter. Totally worth it.
Section Zero is a Challengers of the Unknown/Fantastic Four team that tracks down cryptids and other unexplained phenomena. Or it would if there was a Section Zero, which there isn't.
Karl Kesel teams with Tom Grummett in this, reuniting the Superboy team from ages past, and they haven't missed a step. This very much feels like a Fantastic Four book but better than the Fantastic Four has been in years. The characters are an interesting mix. None of them feel like retreads of other characters to me. There's action, adventure, time travel, and the characters actually progress. By the end of the volume, none of them are where they started.
Still waiting on Section Zero: 1959, though. Four out of five stars.
I contribute to more kickstarters than I should. I got this one as an add-on to an Impossible Jones kickstarter. Totally worth it.
Section Zero is a Challengers of the Unknown/Fantastic Four team that tracks down cryptids and other unexplained phenomena. Or it would if there was a Section Zero, which there isn't.
Karl Kesel teams with Tom Grummett in this, reuniting the Superboy team from ages past, and they haven't missed a step. This very much feels like a Fantastic Four book but better than the Fantastic Four has been in years. The characters are an interesting mix. None of them feel like retreads of other characters to me. There's action, adventure, time travel, and the characters actually progress. By the end of the volume, none of them are where they started.
Still waiting on Section Zero: 1959, though. Four out of five stars.
March 29, 2019
Tom Grummett and Karl Kesel bring Section Zero to life with an amazing degree of skill and talent. It's bonkers, it's epic, and it's fun. I love the broad canvas of time the story spans and the hints of past adventures. The monsters are great and I just can't wait for more Section Zero.
February 25, 2019
For some reason, I missed the few issues of Section Zero that were published by Gorilla Comics a decade ago, despite how perfectly the series concept fits into Things I Love To See In Comics. I've always loved the "group of four adventurers encountering weird stuff" model -- reprints and relaunches of the Challengers of the Unknown, Sea Devils, Time Masters, and Cave Carson's crew were guaranteed to be at the top of my pile whenever they came out.
So naturally, when the Kickstarter to reprint and finish Section Zero came along, I backed it -- at the hardcover level.
But then, life being what it is, I just got around to finally reading the darn thing this weekend. And man, did I love every page. Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett are a great creative team.
Kesel's concept takes everything I love from those 60s adventurer comics (and from early Fantastic Four, when they were equally super-heroes and explorers) and reworks them for a modern audience. The team ages in real time, members come and go, but the core dynamic is remains. And while this volume centers on two particular interations of the team, there are more than enough hints about its five- or six-decade history to satisfy the world-building junkie in me. Kesel and Grummett also get kudos for working in a variation on the classic Hollow Earth / Island That Time Forgot trope that feels fresh and exciting. (Can we have a spin-0ff series set exclusively in that world, please?)
Grummett's art is dynamic and open, equally full of great facial expressions, body language, and physical setting -- a less cartoony Mike Parobeck, whose work I've also always loved.
This is highly worth seeking out if you're looking for fun sf/f/adventure graphic novels. And there's currently a Kickstarter going on for the next installment, Section Zero 1959.
So naturally, when the Kickstarter to reprint and finish Section Zero came along, I backed it -- at the hardcover level.
But then, life being what it is, I just got around to finally reading the darn thing this weekend. And man, did I love every page. Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett are a great creative team.
Kesel's concept takes everything I love from those 60s adventurer comics (and from early Fantastic Four, when they were equally super-heroes and explorers) and reworks them for a modern audience. The team ages in real time, members come and go, but the core dynamic is remains. And while this volume centers on two particular interations of the team, there are more than enough hints about its five- or six-decade history to satisfy the world-building junkie in me. Kesel and Grummett also get kudos for working in a variation on the classic Hollow Earth / Island That Time Forgot trope that feels fresh and exciting. (Can we have a spin-0ff series set exclusively in that world, please?)
Grummett's art is dynamic and open, equally full of great facial expressions, body language, and physical setting -- a less cartoony Mike Parobeck, whose work I've also always loved.
This is highly worth seeking out if you're looking for fun sf/f/adventure graphic novels. And there's currently a Kickstarter going on for the next installment, Section Zero 1959.
December 6, 2018
I loved the original comics when this first came out and was disappointed when it didn't last long enough to get through the whole story.
Finally years later and via the assistance of Kickstarter and fans Section Zero are back, though be aware there is NO Section Zero ( ;) ) and the story is a lot of fun. Section Zero is a throwback to the classic adventure comics. It is an adventure comic rather than a superhero comic and it is a breath of fresh air.
Is it perfect no it isn't but it is very good and it can only get better. I look forward to seeing more Section Zero adventures
Finally years later and via the assistance of Kickstarter and fans Section Zero are back, though be aware there is NO Section Zero ( ;) ) and the story is a lot of fun. Section Zero is a throwback to the classic adventure comics. It is an adventure comic rather than a superhero comic and it is a breath of fresh air.
Is it perfect no it isn't but it is very good and it can only get better. I look forward to seeing more Section Zero adventures
October 23, 2018
I supported the full color creation of this graphic novel on Kickstarter and I'm super glad it's now available for the masses. Chock full o cryptids, action, adventure, monsters, myth, and more. Perfect for fans of Men In Black, The X-Files, Hellboy and the BPRD, The Perhapanauts, Justice League Dark and others in that vein. Recommended!
September 27, 2018
In the interest of full disclosure I backed this TPB on Kickstarter (and I'm very glad that I did).
One of the benefits of creators moving to online platforms to produce their product is that unfinished projects reach completion. Section Zero debuted almost 18 years ago, and now Kesel and Grummett are able to finish their first story (BTW they are promising more books).
The premise is quite simple, but it is well executed. The UN Charter contains a Section Zero, and that section of the charter says there will be a department to investigate the impossible and improbable. But, of course the charter does not contain a section zero. Section Zero does not exist.
The current field leader is Professor Titania Challenger, and that name is more than an in joke, or nerd Easter Egg. She is descended from the Professor Challenger who found The Lost World (now if memory serves correctly this means she is part of the Wold Newton Universe for PJF fans out there). Included is her ex-husband, a cursed teen, and an alien (who's appearance is an homage to Area 51 tales), and more. The Section's history easily stretches back tot he 1950s, and there are glimpses of past teams.
While there are some quick cryptid investigations, the main story point is a ring of fire that transports you to-where? No one really knows, and the adversarial relationship with the Ghost Soldiers.
This definitely hearkens back to a lot of pop culture properties, I mean ask George Lucas everything that inspired the first Star Wars movie (and there was lots). Here there is a flavor of 1950s science fiction movies, old Hollywood serials, and comics like Challengers of the Unknown, Cave Carson Rip Hunter, etc.
The title isn't perfect, characterization is a little short and an old stereotype is used in the tale.
Still if you like the media that influenced this tale, you're likely to like the book.
One of the benefits of creators moving to online platforms to produce their product is that unfinished projects reach completion. Section Zero debuted almost 18 years ago, and now Kesel and Grummett are able to finish their first story (BTW they are promising more books).
The premise is quite simple, but it is well executed. The UN Charter contains a Section Zero, and that section of the charter says there will be a department to investigate the impossible and improbable. But, of course the charter does not contain a section zero. Section Zero does not exist.
The current field leader is Professor Titania Challenger, and that name is more than an in joke, or nerd Easter Egg. She is descended from the Professor Challenger who found The Lost World (now if memory serves correctly this means she is part of the Wold Newton Universe for PJF fans out there). Included is her ex-husband, a cursed teen, and an alien (who's appearance is an homage to Area 51 tales), and more. The Section's history easily stretches back tot he 1950s, and there are glimpses of past teams.
While there are some quick cryptid investigations, the main story point is a ring of fire that transports you to-where? No one really knows, and the adversarial relationship with the Ghost Soldiers.
This definitely hearkens back to a lot of pop culture properties, I mean ask George Lucas everything that inspired the first Star Wars movie (and there was lots). Here there is a flavor of 1950s science fiction movies, old Hollywood serials, and comics like Challengers of the Unknown, Cave Carson Rip Hunter, etc.
The title isn't perfect, characterization is a little short and an old stereotype is used in the tale.
Still if you like the media that influenced this tale, you're likely to like the book.
June 11, 2019
SECTION ZERO isn't a secret section of the United Nation's charter. It does not perpetually fund a team of experts and explorers to travel the world investigating the strange, fantastic, and unknown. The idea that this "team" looks into things such as UFOs, Monsters, Lost Civilizations, Time Travel, Ancient Gods and still-living Dinosaurs is no more than an urban legend.
After all, none of these things exist.
Section Zero initially launched back in 2000 under the Gorilla Comics imprint of Image Comics. The imprint featured such creators as Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett, Kurt Busiek, George Perez, Stuart Immonen, Mike Wieringo and Joe Kelly. Sadly, the financial backing for the imprint fell through and they only lasted for a little over a year. Kesel and Grummett have tried repeatedly to resurrect their Section Zero and have finally succeeded thanks to their Kickstarter campaign.
Kesel describes the book as "What if Jack Kirby did the X-Files?" Kesel and Grummett deliver a tale containing action, drama, aliens, cryptids, future tech, magic, dinosaurs, merman and so much more. A very fun series and I can't wait for the next volume "Section Zero-1959" detailing the origins of Section Zero.
After all, none of these things exist.
Section Zero initially launched back in 2000 under the Gorilla Comics imprint of Image Comics. The imprint featured such creators as Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett, Kurt Busiek, George Perez, Stuart Immonen, Mike Wieringo and Joe Kelly. Sadly, the financial backing for the imprint fell through and they only lasted for a little over a year. Kesel and Grummett have tried repeatedly to resurrect their Section Zero and have finally succeeded thanks to their Kickstarter campaign.
Kesel describes the book as "What if Jack Kirby did the X-Files?" Kesel and Grummett deliver a tale containing action, drama, aliens, cryptids, future tech, magic, dinosaurs, merman and so much more. A very fun series and I can't wait for the next volume "Section Zero-1959" detailing the origins of Section Zero.
April 5, 2020
If you ever enjoyed and 1950s SiFi movie... if you are a fan of CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN if you miss Classic FANTASTIC FOUR stories...then this is a book for you...
Might be hard to find, it was a KickStarter project, but you NEED to track it down~!
KESEL & GRUMMETT (and shout out to COLWELL) pour out there passion on every page...
I so enjoyed this story that I've starting daydreaming about other stories...
Might be hard to find, it was a KickStarter project, but you NEED to track it down~!
KESEL & GRUMMETT (and shout out to COLWELL) pour out there passion on every page...
I so enjoyed this story that I've starting daydreaming about other stories...
January 5, 2019
A super fun Fortean adventure comic, with amazing artwork, imaginative uses of pulp monster lore, and rock solid character work. This book is well worth seeking out.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews