Off The Shelf -- Primordial #3

Welcome to “Off The Shelf”, our comic book reviews of recent titles. Today Sam reviews Primordial #3, sritten by Jeff Lemire with art by Andrea Sorrentino and colors by Dave Stewart

Link referenced in this episode: Major Printing and Distribution Problems Hitting Comics Industry (bleedingcool.com)

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Transcript

Primordial #3

Written by Jeff Lemire

Art by Andrea Sorrentino

Colors by Dave Stewart

Hello this is Sam with Church of the Geek, today reviewing issue 3 of the series Primordial by Image Comics, and while this is for issue 3 what’s said here can easily be said for the preceding books in the series.

Even though the past two years have been fantastic for comics, both in terms of sales and really good content, there has been one huge issue that has made life miserable for comic shop owners as well as readers: distribution. The industry’s largest distributor, Diamond Comics, was hit by a ransomware attack a month ago which played havoc on its supply chain. Prior to that, the industry was having difficulty just meeting the demand for printed comics. Bleeding Cool reported back in September that labor and material shortages were hitting the industry hard in the US and that comics printed overseas were being hit with the same shipping and port delays that were troubling the entire import ecosystem. This is a big part of the reason why the final issue of Image Comics’ Decorum was delayed by almost a year.

All that’s to say that I had absolutely no other reason to pick up Primordial #3 than because my pull list was wafer thin and thought I’d browse through the shelves to see what looked interesting. It was Small Business Saturday, after all. So I glanced through the issue and – bam! – that artwork! I was sold and picked up issues 1 and 2. 

Primordial, another top-notch Image limited series, is produced by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino and Dave Stewart, the creative team behind the multiple Eisner award winning series Gideon Falls. Which is another comic I have to read now. It’s set in an alternate cold war America and follows Dr Donald Pembrook, an African-American MIT grad tasked with scrapping the United States space program in1961. In this reality, both the US and Russia failed in their animal experiments to study the effects and feasibility of a human launch into space. The American monkeys named Able and Baker reportedly died shortly after reaching orbit in 1959 due to a rocket failure. A similar fate was met by Laika, the Russian dog sent into space in 1957. This led to a halt in the space programs in both countries.

Of course this couldn’t be a “cold war comic” without the whole thing being a conspiracy. We learn early on that not only have Able and Baker survived, but Laika survived as well. However their whereabouts are unknown. 

The story switches back and forth between the intrigue back on Earth and the animals. While the narrative of Pembrook trying to unravel the mysteries in play feels like one you’ve read or seen too many times before, it’s the artwork again that really makes this story shine. Contrasting artistic styles help to delineate the two stories being told. While on Earth, the artwork is done in a style reminiscent of vintage comics, with photorealistic images cast in Ben-Day dots and deep shadow. The colors are dark and muted, with greens, browns and greys dominating the color scheme. In contrast, the story of the animals’ journey is told in a style very similar to that of Frank Quitely, with bright line drawings and an almost absence of shadow making a stark contrast to the goings-on on Earth.

The result is surreal. You are never quite sure what is happening to Laika, Able and Baker. Have they been taken on an alien ship, another planet, or another dimension entirely? We’re certain that something is happening to them as they seem to be taken apart and then reassembled by unseen hands. Laika explains to Able and Baker that they’ve been “made bigger” and that they are at the “far house”, which seems to be their new home. 

Yes, Laika and Baker are able to talk now.

The story at its core level deals with the subtle and not so subtle ways we control and demean others. Pembrook is an MIT grad who, because he is black, is mistaken for the janitor. Yelena, the Russian scientist in charge of Laika before her mission, was relegated to cleaning the cages because she is a woman. Able, Baker and Laika are torn from their environment and submitted to painful tests and experiments also because they are lesser beings. However, what they are now seems to be completely different. Now that the dynamics have changed, what will their response be?

This is a really good book. Everything not only hits but blends together so well to tell its story. The writing gives you only as much as you need to know, encouraging you to follow even if you don’t know where you’re going. Dialogue is sparse, with little to no written exposition to explain what’s going on or what’s happening. The visuals tell the story that the words can’t: realities shattering, universes bubbling out of shadows, images screaming off the page in unnatural colors. The medium is used to its full effect on every page.

I had a thought while reading that this could be a cool movie idea, but then I don’t see how this could be made into a film and still have the same stylistic impact. Sin City for example tried so hard to make the screen mirror the page, and it kinda worked, but it ended up feeling to me that it still was a lot of “trying” without really “doing”. 

Primordial is a limited 6 issue series, with the final issue set to ship in February. At least that’s what they say. Thankfully this series should help make the bleak midwinter months a lot more enjoyable. Even though issue 3 came out this month, the prior two may still be available at your local comics shop. And keep an eye out for variant covers in your shop, as some of those are selling on EBay for upwards of $30. But if you do find one of those limited run covers, make sure to buy a reading copy too. This comic is too good to not crack open and wear down with multiple reads.

Thanks again for listening – I greatly appreciate all of you who’ve found and enjoy Church of the Geek, and I hope you’ve found good stories and good vibes on down the line. Look us up on Twitter – I’m @revsblair and the podcast is @geekchurch, and check out our new web site at http://geek.church for all our geek stuff. Have a wonderful holiday, God bless, and geek be with you.