The Massive #1 (Review)

Brian Wood writes this apocalyptic journey about the crew of the Kapital as it searches for it's "sister ship", The Massive.

In a bleak future (not very distant from now!) the crew of the Kapital is near the Kamchatka peninsula (off the coast of Russia), following a "ghost" signal on their radar that they believe may be The Massive. The small crew is being aggressively followed by "hostiles".  The Kapital and The Massive are the two boats of The Ninth Wave, Marine Conservationist Direct Action Force.  Kapital is Captained by Callum Israel, who is also the leader of The Ninth Wave.


After Mary takes an inflatable boat and dispatches of 3 of the closing "hostiles" harshly, Captain Cal & Mag prepare to hold off the rest closing in.

Interspersed with the present day is the history of the yearlong series of catastrophic events that has led to the current predicament.  A global environmental disaster has left the world on the brink.....as governments have fallen, and humanity struggles to survive and adapt to the changed conditions.  Within that history are the decisions made by The Ninth Wave that has brought them to their current situation.

The Ninth Wave vessel Kapital

Kristian Donaldson & Dave Stewart add art and colors to Wood's writing, which gives it the feel of The Day  After Tomorrow meets Whale Wars.  As a sporadic financial supporter of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, I can see the definite similarities......maybe Brian Wood knows this or doesn't (it's cool either way!), but I think this is a great concept.  This is NOT a comic book about conservationism, it IS a comic book about conservationists in an apocalyptic future.....Wood can write about conservationism if he likes, without having to be "preachy" or boring....it's genius really!

That said, after reading the issue 4 times, I am both intrigued and "meh" about it.  Brian Wood has never been my favorite writer; and he is known to be better read in collected format (i.e. Graphic Novels & trade paperbacks), so I'll be picking up the next couple issues to see if I'm going to continue reading this or dropping it.....however at this point: CITIZEN'S GRADE: O.K.