Broken World #1

Preview by Paul Fiander
Writer; Frank J. Barbiere
Artist Christopher Peterson
Colourist; Marissa Louise
Published by BOOM! Studios
With 48 hours to go the world is about to perish from a large scale impact and this a tale of how a few citizens spend their last few hours. Well actually one person in particular Mrs Elena Marlowe, she forms our central focus for this first issue as she awaits the Asteroid to hit the earth. Thankfully for humanity this is a time when we are actually technically proficient enough to create safe havens in space. The technical explanations of the evacuation strategy is explained with a deft touch by Barbieri but he does not dwell on it for too long.

The story itself is much more on the human than technical side. We are introduced to Mrs Marlowe in an easy manner with her obtaining documentation that will allow her to exit the planet. Her manner seems very calm especially when you consider a large extra planetary object is hurtling to meet her. Instead of panicking she actually goes about her normal day and we get to see an insight into her character through her interactions with her students, child and partner. The character creation is the strongest part of the issue in my opinion, Elena is a complex mix of emotion and as the issue goes on we see her struggle with the enormity of the situation she finds herself in giving her a human feel that can not be over estimated.

Artistically the talents of Christopher Peterson are put on to great use as he creates a believable and recognisable cast of characters.There are panels/pages where we get to epic visions but above all this issue is more of a character piece and it would have been a struggle if the cast did not feel genuine. Colourist Marissa Louise does a very strong job giving the imagery an unique colour pallette. The outdoor panels mostly have a slightly orange/red hue and with a fast approaching Asteroid this kind of makes sense.

Overall this is an intriguing series and Barbiere has done a great job giving the reader enough of the plot to hook the reader for this four issue series.