Fathom

I am not rarely wowed by a comic - let's face it, there's a lot of really extraordinary artists and writers out there, creating awesome stories that astound us visually and offer entertainment that really compels. There is a lot of wow-factor around, but more often than not you do realize that you must have seen it all before.

This was not the case with Fathom. Fathom is a aquatic sci-fi. The artist first found inspiration for it whilst looking through an issue of National Geographic. My initial problem with Fathom is this;

 The cover, and every subsequent cover. Yes, the art is really gorgeous, but it does make me think "oh dear, perv-fest", and i would probably shy away from picking it up. But this really isn't the case. Fathom is an extremely technical sci-fi and deserves a hell of a lot of praise, in concept and in artistic delivery. The series is extremely technical and every piece of machinery and every wave expertly drawn. It has to be said, The character of Aspen is sexy as hell, too (what was i saying about naughty covers? never mind).

It begins when the missing cruise liner 'Paradise' sails into port after being missing for ten years. The passengers and crew do not know that they have been missing, and while at sea they found a girl aboard the ship who can only remember that her name is Aspen. She is adopted and raised by a naval officer.

Aspen also has a strange attraction to water, leading her to become a marine biologist. She is invited to study at a deep-sea research facility built around an strange unidentifiable water-craft. When a disaster hits the research base, strange events unfold and Aspen has to face what she truly is.



This series got such critical acclaim that it got the green light to be turned into a film by James Cameron, but nothing came of this. The art is flawless and the colours are extreme; it would be well worth picking up a copy of this. or the currently running series, Fathom: Kiani.

And i'm not too put off by the covers...