Written by Christian War

Art by Tristan Jones

Colours by Pip Martin

Letters by Alex Ray

Edited by Nicolas Niño

 

Seven years ago the Event Horizon disappeared with all hands on a test flight of the world’s first FTL drive. This is what happened.

The most logical prequel concept in horror history finally makes it out of hell and it’s more than worth the wait. Christian Ward cleverly seals the story inside three nested dolls of horror: what we know, what we learn, and the countdown to the gravity drive going online. The first and third give the story an increasingly grim sense of inevitability, brilliantly realised in the stark colours and nervy lines of Pip Martin and Tristan Jones. As the issue continues, the Event Horizon shifts from the comforting bulk of a big ship to something claustrophobic and awful. There’s a beat in the mess when you realise that the ship is essentially a stonework cathedral in space that’s especially unsettling and the combination of precision and tension fits the story perfectly.

But the horror lies in what we learn and specifically in Doctor Weir. In a brilliant move, Ward has Weir haunted by his wife (or more specifically, the demonic presence we see on the Event Horizon wearing his wife’s face) for years. The man we meet in the movie doesn’t break there, he’s been broken for years and nobody noticed.

Ward’s other masterstroke is introducing us to the command crew and through them their secrets, Our viewpoint character, Jennifer Kwon, is a physicist mourning the death of her estranged twin. Her colleagues include an abuse survivor, a devout Christian captain, a chief engineer who isn’t good with people and a navigator fleeing an open court case. The ship is doomed long before the drive is fired and Ward, Jones, Martin and letterer Alex Ray bring all of this to a needlepoint moment of horror that closes the issue with two hours to go before the jump and two hours before the descent into hell.

Verdict: This is about as perfect a follow up as you could hope for. The art is great and soaked with atmosphere and the script plays the hits whole finding new melodies inside them, like all tie ins should. If you’re fan, this is a must. If you’ve never seen the movie, start here. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart

Event Horizon: Dark Descent is published monthly.

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