The Undernet is a secret architecture to the Internet. Picture the Dark Web, but ohhh, darker, and scarier and relentless. Ariel and his friends broke in to the Undernet, then sealed up the break-in. But now the break has reopened, unleashing a horrific force.
Writer James Tynion IV has cracked open a new box of entertainment for us with WorldTR33, from Image Comics. Illustrated by Fernando Blanco with colours by Jordie Bellaire, this shockingly violent and unsettling story is a gripping one.
It’s in the lighting, that spooky, cold LED and computer monitor light source. It’s in the casual nudity, the casual disregard for civil behaviour and disregard for human life. There is a chillingly paced narrative here. The sometimes-12-panel-per-page grid is effective, for it chugs along incrementally, without pause for reflections. The poses are realistic, the expressions conveying emotion. It’s a smoothly hypnotic combo of words and drawings.
It’s the kernels of dialogue, the claustrophobic glimpses inside the sadistic killings, the outdoor adventures that take us away from it all. But not for long, as we arrive back at the scene of the crime.
“Stream-of-consciousness-review” or not, just read between the lines; WorldTR33 is a mightily ambitious undertaking, and the undertaker is kept busy, we readers are busy deciphering the situation, and chewing our nails in suspense. It’s strong, it’s horrorizing, it’s mesmerizing, yes, it’s worth the money, honey.
Image Comics, WorldTR33 #1, $3.99 for 33 pages of content. Mature
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