Event Horizon, the 1997 sci-fi/horror movie, is a legit cult classic. It was a failure at the box office, and critically lambasted. But thanks to its release on home video, the movie picked up a following, then a critical reevaluation. And now, 28 years later (not to be confused with 28 Years Later) the movie is getting a prequel in comic book form from IDW. And based on the first issue, Event Horizon: Dark Descent is off to a hell of a great start.
Written by Christian Ward with art by Tristan Jones, IDW has assembled the perfect team for this story about a spaceship that accidentally opens a portal to Hell. Like the movie it sets up, we have a mismatched crew of scientists, technicians, and soldiers, all with dark secrets of their own, who are about to be challenged by a demonic entity known as Paimon. The movie played coy with its premise for a good chunk of the running time, but Ward doesn’t need to wait on ceremony… We know things are going to go wrong; the question is how and when?
That tension is palpable throughout the first, excellent issue. There’s an undercurrent of dread to every interaction, knowing its all going to go off the rails. But the book also doesn’t skimp on bloody horror, managing to somehow both simmer and boil at the same time. Thanks to Jones’s gritty art, we get to see plenty of horrific demon activity, some nudity, and the beginnings of some violence as everything almost immediately falls apart. This is very much in the spirit of an R-rated, midnight movie, and that seeps through on every page.
To take a little step back, Ward is known as an artist, but has reinvented himself with some killer writing, as well. In particular, he’s shown a knack for getting under the skin of insanity, thanks to his work on the excellent Batman: City of Madness, and the superbly structured Two-Face series, both at DC. That skill will likely get pushed to its limits with Dark Descent. And Ward uses a neat conceit in the book… Mild spoilers here, but as each character is introduced with a text box, we get not just their names and jobs; but what’s wrong with them, as well. In that, we, the reader, end up in the position of Paimon, not the crew of the Event Horizon. We’re ahead of the game, knowing what the demon will surely play on. We also know (well, if you’ve seen the movie) that they’re not going to survive this. They’re a doomed crew, and it will be devilishly delightful to see how they’re all taken out.
The best part? Whether you’ve seen the movie or not, Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1 works as its own, standalone cosmic horror story. It’s dark, adult, beautifully drawn and wickedly exciting. It may have taken 28 years to get here, but it was well worth the wait.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1 hits stores on August 20 from IDW.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1 Rating:
Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1 Official Synopsis:
Miniseries premiere! An all-new cosmic horror story set in the universe of the terrifying cult-classic film!
The Event Horizon was a revolutionary spaceship designed for one mission: faster-than-light travel with a top secret and experimental gravity drive. But upon activating the device, the ship journeyed across the borders of HELL ITSELF. In a nightmarish realm of torments beyond imagining, Captain Kilpack and the first crew of the Event Horizon must resist all manner of demonic forces including Paimon, the eyeless King of Hell, and their own descents into madness and bloodlust, if they’ve any chance of escaping back to their own world.
Abandon all hope and board the Event Horizon with multiple Eisner Award–winner Christian Ward (writer of Batman: City of Madness, Two-Face) and powerhouse sci-fi artist Tristan Jones (Aliens: Defiance, Tales of the TMNT), in this unbelievable story of the true and final fate of the original Event Horizon crew. This original five-issue miniseries serves as an official prequel to the film!
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