London's a strange place: the Thames dried up, alien creatures roaming outside the city limits, and the mysterious Cartel ruling over them. Enter Hunter Esau who shoots down and captures a stranger named Nina Lombardi. She's come a long way to tell the Cartel to turn off the "Device," or the planet's doomed. Or so her superiors on Earth tell her. Hmm? Where's London, you ask? Well, that'd be telling.
Andrew Stephenson and Trevor Goring have succeeding in creating their own little world in Waterloo Sunset, one that holds tightly to its secrets. Only as we follow Esau and Nina do we slowly learn more about them and what has happened to Earth in the last fifty years. Most of the story so far is basically dialogue between the two of them as they travel to the Cartel's base to meet them, and you can tell that Stephenson enjoys writing that British future-speak.
Not to say there's no action at all. There's those "jip=jiks" that roam around and have a taste for humans. Not to mention that the Mayor of London doesn't trust Esau and has a bunch of his henchmen stalking them, hoping for a chance to do them some bodily harm.
His overall pacing is that of a novel, the gradual revealing of this strange world through the breadcrumbs the writer leaves us. There's no hurried exposition followed by many bouts of violence like some comics and most movies. The characters are realistic, each given motives and depth. The main characters do come off a little stiff at times, but that might just be because of the sometimes awkward future-speak.
Much like Goring's photo-realistic art. I'm glad that it's in black and white. Modern computer coloring technology would surely clash with his shadowly figures and sombre settings. While there were a couple of examples in issue two where a couple faces looked a little distorted or hastily drawn, for the most part, Goring's art shows real potential.
One of my only beef with the series is it's 7 dollar price tag. Okay, yes it is a 48 page prestige format with no ads, but it's not printed in color. Couldn't that drop the price a few bucks? It just makes it hard for someone with limited resources who already buys way too many comic books to get involved in the series.
Anyway, besides those who pick it up not expecting its novel-like pacing, sci-fi buffs should really being eating this series up. B
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