I love underwater stories, especially when horror and science fiction are thrown in. I mean, who doesn’t love The Abyss? Because the depths of the ocean are a mystery, it opens up a lot of possibility for storytelling.
The first thing that stood out was the cover, specifically the use of color. It’s striking use of tones and shades will catch anyone’s eye. The interior artwork is also very good, with thick, bold lines and each character being well defined. Too often when we have a cast of characters they look too similar and it’s easy to get them confused, even when photo referencing is used. It does an excellent job conveying the underwater environment, giving the read a claustrophobic feeling as though there is nowhere else to go.
We start off with an excellent setup. We are introduced to the ship and the people on it, are given a problem that needs to be solved and just a little bit of information on why they are even there. I’ve noticed lately first issues lean too heavily on the idea of the story and sadly after a few issues if the characters and plot doesn’t unfold at a good pace the book sputters. Thankfully that isn’t the case here, the pacing is perfect and one of the better first issues I’ve read in a while in that regard. It gives us plenty of questions to be answered and problems to resolve without feeling convoluted. The reader is presented with a wonderful introduction to the inter personal dynamics of the group, and that’s important to draw us in and actually care about them and decipher why each one does what they do, especially with the inevitability of something horrible happening to them.
Crush Depth is off to a promising start, if the first issue is any indication of how well this creative team will tell the story it’s going to be a hell of a ride.
