Friday 14 February 2014

The Bunker #1 Review

Joshua Hale Fialkov's The Bunker debuted on Comixology some time ago to much acclaim, and despite being a fan of the writer I simply couldn't pick it up as I have no way of buying digital comics. Enter ONI Press, who have very kindly presented a print version of the book for people in my situation. So now the real question is, was it worth the wait? Definitely. The Bunker #1 is the start of a very interesting, if slightly confusing, story and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it develops.


The Bunker follows the story of a group of college students who, when attempting to bury a time capsule, come across an underground bunker filled with information that their future selves have left for them. You see, this isn't just any group of students - this group will go on to wipe out most of the people on the planet. This concept is a very clever indeed, and while it takes some time to wrap your head around, is explained well for the most part by writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, and captured expertly by artist Joe Infurnari. His art style adds a real sense of darkness to the story due mainly to the beautiful colouring which gives the book a shadowy, painted style that looks great.
Although at times I did have problems figuring out which characters were speaking and which were in the scene, these moments were few and far between, and the many breathtaking panels Infurnari brings to life more than make up for these panels.

Speaking of characters, Fialkov's character work shines in this issue. His group of five main characters each have a very different voice, and very different backgrounds. And it is these backgrounds that make it so interesting to see how each character reacts to their respective warning. The stand-out character for me was Billy whose story looks to be the most interesting, with hints being laid throughout the book that disaster is waiting for him in the next few issues.

The only real flaw, I can think of from this issue is that sometimes the story lost me. The book flashes forward, particularly near the end, and then flashes back and I had a hard time figuring out what some scenes meant, and what had happened. However, I'm sure these scenes will be elaborated on more in future issues, and may also benefit from a second read-through.


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