The world is buried under ice and what’s left of humanity struggles to survive. The rich have their artificial suns and the poor tear each other apart for a few minutes of warmth. But hey, it could be worse, right?
Of course it could.
Click the jump for preview pages and a review of Vertigo’s Frostbite #1.
In the world that Joshua Williamson’s created it’s been 57 years since a new Ice Age covered the planet. Los Angeles clocks in at 12 degrees Fahrenheit, while New Mexico is at a balmy 24.
The details of daily life in a near-future apocalypse are always my favorite, and this world has a lot of them: kids feeding credits into a street-corner heater to get warm for a few seconds, rich-people clothes with built in radiation layers, or trains where criminals can ride without registering if they can stand a much colder trip. If you’re homeless you’re lucky if you have a heat-blanket to hide under, if you’re rich you can afford living in a city with an artificial sun.
And if all that didn’t sound bad enough, you could always get Frostbite. Not the kind that kills off fingers and toes; this is a disease that literally freezes you from the inside out, and it’s extremely contagious.
In the midst of this we meet Keaton, a woman who had to grow up way too young, losing her family to the new Ice Age and learning exactly how much the world doesn’t care if you’re freezing to death. She’s got a soft spot for kids, but we find out fast that she’ll throw anyone under the bus for a chance to survive.
Or possibly for a chance at revenge. Or redemption? She’s complicated, is what I’m saying.
In one issue the story definitely had my interest. Like I said before, I love all the little details, and I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more of this dystopian Earth. And Keaton herself seems like a very layered character. She’s flawed in major ways, but she’s human enough that we can understand her.
As for the art, I’m hooked. I always have a second of nervousness when I see a sketchy, “indie-comic” style in a book. I’m afraid it’ll be ugly, or hard to understand, or boring. Obviously, Jason Shawn Alexander’s work (enhanced with Luis NCT’s colors) is none of those things. It’s stark and striking, deceptively simple in places except Alexander does such amazing things with space and perspective and shadows.
I love how he’s done Keaton’s face. She’s not glamorous, but she is beautiful. My favorite moment is when we see her looking off into the distance (not the picture you see here, it’s a panel near the end of the issue) at a moment when you know she’s feeling maybe a little regret, but she’s mostly resigned, and thinking “well f*ck, let’s just do this.” It’s a hell of a lot of nuance in one panel.
I’m absolutely in for the second issue.
