Random Happenstance

Between the comicon, a very good yard sale from some local fans, and the usual piles of stuff I pick up; I have...piles of stuff floating around right now. Which leaves me at somewhat of a loss where I picked up the first three issues of this one; but the Comic Book Shop fixed me up with the concluding three issues: from 2016-2018, Shipwreck #1-6, written by Warren Ellis, pencils by Phil Hester, inks by Eric Gapstur, colors by Mark Englert, letters by Marshall Dillon. Aftershock gives them all cover credits!

I know I've read a couple other titles from Aftershock Comics, but don't know much about them, save that this seems like the sort of thing that would've been published at Vertigo before it went under. (Has Vertigo officially gone? I did see discussion to the effect that the imprint's actually a drain on sales these days...) Actually, it's a bit esoteric for Vertigo, and a bit less big concept than usual for Ellis: this is more impressionistic, almost abstract. The first issue in particular reminds me of the opening of Stephen King's the Gunslinger: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." A sad-looking man with a bandaged arm seems to have a dream of drowning at sea, before waking up by a road, with a seeming murder of crows guiding his way. At a dilapidated old diner, he meets "an inspector," who tells him his name is Dr. Jonathan Shipwright, who "died in a shipwreck. The strangest shipwreck that ever was: a boat run aground after voyaging from another planet."

Shipwright is mildly confused, but recalls a few things, namely that his mission had been sabotaged by "that bastard Isham." Which gives him a goal, and possibly the motivation to keep from being killed by the diner's chef, who seems to have some unusual notions about "nutritional fitness." (The chef is one of several characters in the series that seem like stock Ellis: an entertaining possible lunatic with an interesting outlook on life that may approach monomania.) The inspector leaves a note for Shipwright: "There is a rescue mission." It would be a few more issues before we understand what most, if not all, of it means.

I lucked into all six issues pretty quickly, but I'd absolutely recommend the trade; especially since looking at the GCD, this ran from October 2016 to June 2018! That seems excessive...