by Jesse Hudgins
I was a big comic nerd when I was a kid, and over the years, I lost touch with them. In college, though, I got back into them heavily and have been keeping up with them frequently. One book that’s been on my feed is the book Assorted Crisis Events. After reading the entire series released thus far, I consider it to be one of the best comics I’ve ever read.
Assorted Crisis Events is written by Deniz Camp, who’s been hitting home run after home run with series like 20th Century Men, Absolute Martian Manhunter, and The Ultimates. The series is a sci-fi anthology story with a different one-shot story in each issue, tackling different subject matter through a sci-fi lens allowing for extremely gripping story telling. With great artwork and coloring from Eric Zawadzki and Jordie Bellaire, the artwork of the story perfectly complements the many stories told under the title. Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou completes the lettering for the issues, and it doesn’t always follow the typical standard comic lettering. Recently, issues 1-7 got reprints with new covers by Javier Pulido. Issue 8 will get another reprint ahead of the titles return in June with issue 9.
Each issue features a different story that acts as a metaphor for a real-world issue. Issue 3, for example, addresses issues on immigration and discrimination. The plot involves the town of Hearth across two similar dimensions. One Hearth’s home is so bad that they must cross dimensions to live at the other Hearth with their counterparts. Eventually, tensions flare up between the people of what is now dubbed “Hearth One” and “Hearth Two” to the point a radical man of “Hearth One” rises up, wanting to get rid of the people of “Hearth Two.” It’s a tragic tale that highlights community and togetherness.
Issue 5 follows a girl reliving the same sixty seconds repeatedly for what feels like millions of years. It affects her life and sense of time, making her feel like she’s trapped within a maze. Throughout this issue, the team utilizes paneling and full-page spreads to tell the story in such an interesting manner. There are multiple times when you need to rotate the comic itself to be able to read the text laid out on the page. The one thing that you get early in the series, and heavily through this issue, is that the team isn’t afraid to take on heavy subject matter. Issue 5 specifically gets so heavy that I felt it physically affect me because of the content and how well it’s done. This isn’t the first time I’ve felt the weight of the series and it certainly won’t be the last.
The eighth and most recent issue of the series might go down as my favorite. It’s about a struggling comic writer who used to be critically acclaimed but is now down on his luck and his life has gone downhill. Like other issues of the series, the usage of the paneling and spreads are nothing short of inspiring; this issue utilizes the white space to be integrated into the story as we watch the life of this comic creator fall apart. One of the central themes of this book is love and my heart broke as I read this story. Hell, the book makes you feel bad for continuously turning the page and actively reading the book.
Even with it being 8 issues deep, Assorted Crisis Events is going to go down as one of the best books of the past decade. Deep storytelling and gripping metaphors are complimented by beautiful artwork, coloring, and lettering. I’m beyond happy that I’ve had the privilege to read this comic and very much look forward to continuing reading it as the series goes on. I would even go as far as to say that this may be one of my favorite comics I’ve ever read, and I couldn’t recommend it more.
