By Herik Hanna & Sean Phillips, colours by Hubert; translated by Nora Goldberg (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78276-084-9 (Album HB)
Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Proper Seasonal Shocker… 8/10
Delivered by Herik Hanna and Sean Phillips as a slim but oversized (282 x 206 cm) deluxe hardback edition, chilling deep space psycho-chiller Void was originally published by French publisher Guy Delcourt in 2012. It’s an eminently readable, bleakly absorbing example of dark psychological horror in the manner of Ridley Scott’s Alien, set in the most claustrophobic and hostile environment imaginable…
The terror commences in the silent, blood-splashed observation bay of Goliath 01, a colossal prison transport spaceship wrecked by astronomical mischance and human frailty. Battered and terrified survivor John pauses to take stock of his precarious position. With ears pricked for any hint of peril he reviews how, following a mass penetration by a storm of micro-meteorites, the monolithic penal vessel suffered a massive systems failure.
That however is not the real problem. In the aftermath of the one-in-a-billion accident, iconic war-hero and infallible mission commander Colonel “No Mercy” Mercer suffers some kind of breakdown and begins stalking the corridors, indiscriminately executing prisoners and crew alike with a space axe…
As John keeps frantically moving in a desperate cat-and-mouse gamble to stay ahead of the maniac, he experiences vivid hallucinations: reliving the deaths of his comrades and helpless charges, conversing with food and animals and even arguing with long-gone ex Nancy…
Can it simply be pressure and appalling danger, or is there some unfathomable aspect to the nature of space that drives everyone to madness? More importantly, will John be able to find an escape route before the relentless, remorseless Mercer catches up to him?
… And then Nancy suggests that he should stop running and kill the colonel first…
Rendered in a compulsive style reminiscent of the most powerful work of Richard Corben, this sharp, suspenseful, astoundingly atmospheric explosive tale unfolds in a grimy, gritty intoxicating manner, yet cunningly holds in reserve a devastating double twist…
Void and all contents © 2012 Guy Delcourt Productions. Translated edition © 2014 Titan Comics.