What’s The Furthest Place From Here #1
Image Comics
Storytellers: Tyler Ross, Matthew Rosenberg
Letters: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Every now and then–perhaps once a year, maybe every other, a comic comes along that has me in its grip from the very first panel. My thought process, as I read this comic, is something like this: Oh this is good. Oh, this is really good! OMG, can I get an omnibus this yet? Oh, the first issue isn’t even out yet. F.
What’s The Furthest Place From Here #1 is my favorite #1 this year, and maybe my favorite comic of the year period. But why is it so enthralling? In short. . . everything.
First, everything about this comic is punk rock. The opening scene starts in a dirty, busted bathroom. It has some scribbled graffiti (or really just tags) on the walls, one of which reads, Rollins, in reference, of course to Black Flag frontman, Henry Rollins. This sets the tone for the rest of the issue. From there, the punk is lathered on thick, the main characters live in a record shop–why isn’t quite clear at first.
The world is soon revealed as some strange Lord of the Flies type of apocalypse, but there seems to be some supernatural trickery going on that hasn’t come to light quite yet. There’s simply a lot to find out about the world this comic takes place in, and the writing does a great job at filling readers in without info-dumping through the use of narrative captions. Furthermore, all the dialogue feels just. . . real. Even though there’s a bunch of stuff that happens that is unbelievable. What this comic has in spades is verisimilitude.
Enough about the story (I don’t want to ruin it), let’s talk about art. It’s great. This is a story told in shades of red and blue. Red gives way to pink and orange, blue gives way to gray and black. Outside the record shop, which is home, everything comes into focus. But outside is dangerous. The world is a wash of hard lines and muted colors. When there is violence, and there is, everything is bright, raw, like emotions.
Lastly, even the letters in the comic are punk rock. Each letter slants and curves to convey the attitude. While the rounded style feels almost cartoonish, they work to throw the jagged letters in moments of drama into stark relief.
Quite frankly, this comic has everything going for it. As I was writing this review, I even took a break to order the trade volume #1 (on pre-order, of course)–it’s that good.
What's the Furthest Place From Here #1
My favorite #1, and maybe just the best comic I have read all year.
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2 Comments
Some very high praise, look forward to seeing this title!
The title is a reference to the Jawbreaker song “Accident Prone.” However I doubt this comic is as good as you say it is.