ADVANCE REVIEW! Ei8ht #1

Do we really need yet another comic centred around time travel? Read on to find out.

The official description from Dark Horse:

From American Vampire’s Rafael Albuquerque!

Welcome to the Meld, an inhospitable dimension in time where Joshua, a chrononaut, finds himself trapped. With no memory or feedback from the team of scientists that sent him, he can’t count on anything but his heart and a stranger’s voice to guide him to his destiny.

Time travel and strange worlds. Two concepts that have been widely used in comics. But what makes these type of tales so alluring? For this fanboy, it’s all to do with mystery, with the unknown being much more interesting than the obvious. With Ei8ht, this notion is enhanced tenfold, with the intriguing set-up, and fascinating world that is the Meld being utterly captivating.

Having established himself as one of the best artists in the business today, co-creating the ever successful American Vampire with Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque makes his transition into writing, kickstarting a wonderful tale. Joined by Star Trek and Supergirl writer Mike Johnson, Albuquerque introduces us to a wonderful world, with the premise of this series being sensational. It is however the character development that impresses most, as though the Meld is the most alluring factor in this tale, it’s the rich characteristics that really astonished.

One thing that was never in doubt going into this series, was that I’d love the art. Having adored his work on American Vampire, I was curious to see what the artist would produce in a world of his own creation. The result is simply amazing, with the beautiful landscapes, and emotional facial expressions allowing for a dramatic tempo that’s to die for. Despite all this, it’s the colours that fascinate me, with the colour coding, and pastel like tone giving a fantastic finish.

Ei8ht might be an epic sci-fi tale, but it’s the emotional development of the characters within that makes it stand out. Along with a captivating premise, and mysterious setting, this is a series that I definitely will be following, and you should too.