Zeb Larson reviews Pisces #1…
Former fighter pilot Dillon Carpenter found everything he wanted when he returned from the Vietnam War.A loving partner, a dream career training with NASA to travel through space, and soon, he will learn, a prime candidacy for a secret mission, one that will forever change the world: First Contact. But as Dillon prepares, his war trauma returns and he’s haunted by dark visions of his future. There is but one constant; the voice whispering from the stars. A sci-fi psychological body horror series from the writer of RAT QUEENS and the artist of SHELTERED.
The first issue of Pisces is a very ambiguous introduction to the series, and without the benefit of Image’s promotional material, you wouldn’t know much of what happens in this issue. However, while we are about as adrift as Dillon Carpenter, the atmosphere and tone of the book has a haunting quality that draws you into it, especially as memories of the past combine with events in the present. I trust that subsequent episodes will fill in a bit of the backstory and context, but the atmosphere has hooked me. I will not be discussing spoilers in this issue, so read on.
We see flashbacks of Dillon Carpenter’s life, all of which are blurring together. At one point, he drives drunk to the hospital to see his wife, where he ends up brawling with the hospital staff. Even earlier, Dillon remembers being shot down in Vietnam and his attempts to survive alongside his co-pilot. Nothing goes according to plan, though before we get too far we see Dylan moving back into the present: he’s an astronaut, and he’s adrift in space.
You don’t necessarily expect a new series to open with a flashback issue, and it creates a lot of confusion about what Dillon is doing in space. Those flashbacks are good at setting up Dillon’s character, however, and what we see is a lot of pain, regret, and failings that have followed him into space. He’s killed people, he’s watched other people be killed, he’s driven away the people he loved, and now he’s all alone in the loneliest possible place with all of these memories. The book is pitched as a horror series, but I’m wondering whether the real horror at work here is madness and regret. We’ll have to see just what is waiting for him in space.
There’s not much else to say about this series yet because it’s mostly building atmosphere, but what Wiebe has offered to us is intriguing. I’m looking forward to issue 2 to see if it can deliver the goods.
Zeb Larson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnc360pUDRI&feature=player_embedded&list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5
Originally published April 28, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
