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Fiction Review by The Gravedigger
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10.25.10
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This hardcover graphic novel collects the first five issues of this comic. The premise is that since the beginning of time there has existed a man-like being called The Steward, who has shaped human history by preventing/erasing horrible, end-of-the-world type of events from the timeline. The only one who remembers these events is him and he leads a very lonely existence.
Chapter One is about a virulent Ebola-like virus raging across Africa. If it spreads out of that country it will kill off 95% of mankind. The Steward poses as one of the research scientists frantically looking for a cure. This comes in the form of the grandchild of the country's ruler. There's an interesting flashback, to 60 Million years ago, where he was the sheppard for one of last group of surviving dinosaurs. He felt a kinship because they walked bipedal, like him, and he thought they may be the inheritors of the earth. He was wrong. Chapter Two takes place in the early 1880's and revisits the Frankenstein tale. This is a surprisingly effective story. After all, how many times can you repeat Frankenstein and come up with something different? Chapter three, in the present day, concerns a physicist trying to re-create the "Big Bang". And she stumbles across the "editing" of The Steward, noticing the changes in the timeline, as if it's been stitched.
Chapter Four visits Cortez's exploration in the new world and how is intentions were very different from what transpired. It's a depressing tale. The final story I thought was the most intriguing. Scientists experimenting with nano-technology accidently create a new form of life, extremely intelligent, that begins to question its own existence. It can very well destroy the world--and The Steward has tried to change events around it nearly a dozen times--but the result is always the same. Then, he goes for a different tactic altogether.
This book reminds me of something J. Michael Stracynski would pen. It's that good.
Highly recommended.
Written by Phil Hester, David Hine, Ian Edginton & Matz
artists: various
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Rating: nan out of 10.0 - votes cast total
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