The Massive, Vol. 1: Black Pacific

I really enjoyed this post-apocalyptic environmental story about a team of activists who try to stay peaceful in a world that is anything but.

The main team are on a voyage to find their sister ship the Massive, which mysteriously disappeared. The narrative jumps between the present and the past, allowing the reader to get to know both the characters and the world they live in.

And boy what a world it is! Even though it's been done before, I think this comic captures the global warming afflicted earth pretty well. You have wonderful artwork accompanied by interesting social, political and economic concepts.

I also feel that the characters' behavior and motivation are well-developed and makes sense throughout the story. I found the Captain to be a bit of a cliche in the beginning (and a rather boring character), but soon he grew on me and I started admiring his pacifism.

One of the things that I'm not too crazy about is that midway through volume one the art style changes. I found that a bit distracting. Other than that, I'm looking forward to volume two!

2.5 stars. A little dull, but the art was decent, and it has potential.

One giant MMMMEH from me. I could barely finish this. It sounds interesting on paper: a post-eco-disaster world, where some shady eco-warriors (like, with guns) cruise around the ocean on their giant, repurposed research vessel, looking for their missing sister ship and trying to save whales. Ya know.

Anyway, nice bits include all the water stuff: the art feels like a Zen haiku at times. I appreciate (intellectually) how the global disaster is portrayed on the periphery of things - i.e. when they dock into Hong Kong, and find it basically underwater (cool!). I also like the basic design of each issue, especially with the fake primary docs following each mini-story.

But... it's just, well, boring. And I found the characterizations basically ridiculous. A former black ops guy turns into a rough, handsome, righteous Robert Redfordy captain of a bunch of eco-warriors? It just seems absurd. Like, why have the black ops stuff in there at all? Also, while I appreciated all the globe-trotting and flashbacks (“Once, in 2001, in Slovenia...”), I also found them a bit tediously exoticizing, almost hipster in its “Yeah, you probably haven't heard of Mogadishu/Ljubljana/whatever”. LE SIGH.