Comic Review: Great Divide #1 (Dynamite)

“Waking up to a world where the slightest physical contact leaves one of you into a Bloody Corpse kind of sucks the fun out of things I guess.”

The comic begins at a bar where a family man runs in distressed, the bartender and its customers all ask what went wrong. The distressed man claims that he may have killed his family and is now hearing their voices in his head. Once of the customers touches the man, blood Spurs, and eyeballs blow out of their sockets Total Recall 80’s  style as he dies upon physical contact. The distressed man suddenly knows the bartender’s name, and everyone realizes that the distressed man is infected. But once one of their own bar staff touches the bartender trying to calm him down from cocking his shotgun, he dies upon contact as well.

The comic then shifts to another destination, where we find out supposed protagonist Paul who wanders about trying to make deals and gunning it whenever they go south, spewing jokes that none of the residents ever care for. Paul ends up coming across another wandering nomad until he is struck by the person and looted of his safety gear and trading material. Paul wanders into a rare place where there are still communities that work together in caution and making sure no “Bare Devils” attempt to touch each other. As Paul makes his way to the trading post he comes across the woman that looted him of his belongings. As the comic progresses the woman who robbed Paul reveals her name as Maria. Once the get involved in a hairy situation, they begin what might be an interesting friendship down the road.

I actually liked this comic. And for a first issue, it’s not bad! It’s got an interesting premise, especially when you find out more about the characters and their motives. Who would have thought a guy like Paul had some sort of medical background? You would have thought he was a failed comedian. But it’s a good start to what could potentially be a good breakout series. Personally, I hope it’s a good series that has a solid beginning, middle, and end. Because I’d rather have a Cowboy Bebop sorta of the run where it has a two-season run rather than a Bleach sorta series where readers lose interest because of the concepts and stories being rehashed and beaten to the ground. Mind you I like both those series in my own way, but if you’re an anime fan you get the point. What I’m trying to say is that I hope the series doesn’t end up like the Walking Dead where it gets predictable and loses interest. Not that I look forward to a definitive ending, but I’d hope for a conclusion that would be satisfying without having to spoon feed answers. But what am I saying!! This series just started! Generally, I really liked the plot.

Things that this comic remind me of 28 Days Later (characters could get infected simply because of blood like fluid landing on them) and the YouTube animated short Urbance (people unable to have sex due a virus that kills them once contact is initiated ). The comic is similar in concept in terms of characters dying due to forms of simple physical contact which isn’t a bad thing. It makes it all the more interesting and somewhat suspenseful. Anyone could die at any moment simply because of simple gesture as shaking hands. In a world such as today where people can die from viruses like the Flu, Swine Flu, Ebola, HIV, AIDS, Zika, it makes for a plausible possibility of a dystopian future that could happen more than an actual zombie apocalypse.

The writing by Ben Fisher is good, it’s paced well enough to keep the reader interested in wanting to see what happens next. There are bits where that are written where a Vampirella comic is used by Paul as a means to trade with other traders who are interested in having beat off material to release their sexual frustrations in their own downtime. I thought that was as humorously clever since Vampirella is a comic character owned by Dynamite Entertainment, and is a good way to have a cross promotion to boot. What I also want to note is the last page that is basically a classified online conversation between two people who may have actual knowledge on how the outbreak started helps the narrative greatly, inciting the reader to want to see where the story goes next.  The art by Adam Markiewickz matches the tone of the book. It’s not about zombies, so the book doesn’t need to look totally grim. It’s about people in a post-outbreak world, and it fits that tone where people wander, and loot and kill, but doesn’t mean that there isn’t some ray of sunshine in between scenes. Overall a good comic. I look forward to what Fisher and Co cook up in the following issue.