If Assorted Crisis Events #1 is just one thing then it’s a book for the spirit of the age. In this first issue, writer Deniz Camp and artist Eric Zawadzki introduce us to a world where time is broken. Here ordinary city inhabitants can vanish in a heartbeat; be born, live and die but not necessarily in that order; encounter cave people from prehistory and time-displaced prophets of doom from future catastrophes; and exist in a place where every week brings a new apocalypse event. That may not sound very topical but read on…
Camp brings us into this world through the perspective of one unnamed young woman trying to navigate their shattered environment. We observe the temporal idiosyncrasies that abound here as she turns up at work only to discover she has blundered into a timeline where she doesn’t exist, visits the graves of her time-lost parents, and constantly has to deal with movie crews using the fractured cityscape as a cheap movie set.
Each issue of Assorted Crisis Events is designed to be a complete story in and of itself. Whether they are also part of a larger tapestry remains to be seen. The kind of story we see in #1 is not, of course, without precedent. Alan Moore played with similar elements in his Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover issue of Swamp Thing. But while that tale gave us character vignettes set around the super-hero action what Camp does is emphasise in far greater depth the more personal, human stories of those caught up in the madness that surrounds them.
On the one hand Assorted Crisis Events #1 is a reflection of our current world; the ultimate narrative extrapolation of doomscrolling. On the other it’s a dramatic celebration of the neverending procession of shared universe comics and their perpetual “nothing will ever be the same again” events. But from a very different vantage point. And it all builds up to an extremely satisfying thematic finale.
Eric Zawadzki uses mostly tightly-panelled and detailed pages which sometimes slip into unconventional layouts to bring to life the oppressive and chaotic locations and events we witness. When his pages do open up towards the end it serves to ensure the twists become all the more pronounced for the shift in viewpoint. Jordie Bellaire brings our protagonist to the forefront with her colouring choices as she and other core characters move in full colour through the chronal tumult of grey and sepia-toned backgrounds.
Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou is fast becoming your go-to guy if you want a textbook explanation of the letterer’s craft in action. Any comic he’s involved in is replete with examples of how lettering can be used to capture emotional beats, to guide the reader’s eye around character interaction, and to increase the dramatic pitch of a sequence. He doesn’t disappoint here. And with Tom Muller on the design side of things Camp and Zawadzki have a dream team of collaborators here.
One person’s homage to the traditions of comics here will be another’s allegorical commentary on our wider world in the 2020s. Regardless of your own personal interpretation Assorted Crisis Events looks set to be one of 2025’s finest periodical comics achievements.
Deniz Camp (W), Eric Zawadzki (A), Jordie Bellaire (C), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (L), Tom Muller (D) • Image Comics, $4.99
Review by Andy Oliver
