The Massive #1 by Brian Wood, Kristian Donaldson and Dave Stewart

After a number of creator-owned projects of his winding up, Brian Wood is back with a new series, published by Dark Horse Comics. This time, he is looking at what happens to a group of environmental extremists (a la Sea Shepherd) once globe spanning ecological disasters completely reshape the world, both geographically and politically. It’s a series that is meant to be ongoing, and having read a fair portion of his last political/social commentary series DMZ, I expect only good things to come of this.

The book opens up by introducing a select number of crew members of the Kaptial, one of the two ships under the banner of the Ninth Wave oceanic activist group, searching for their sister ship The Massive in the Bering Sea. They are an eclectic group of individuals, each strong willed and passionate, and while we don’t get to learn much about them in this first issue, enough is revealed to make each character interesting and have the reader look forward to learning more as time goes on.

It is clear that Wood has plans for this story for the long haul, and is carefully setting the foundation for the story he wishes to tell, so it won’t be a surprise if the first number of issues are much more about creating the world and detailing the events that lead these characters to where they are than moving things forward post-haste. However, he carefully balances his exposition with exciting moments in this first issue. In it, we are thrown into a tension filled present, as the Kapital is moving through the fog and ice, with ghost blips on their radar, when they are set upon by a number of  unknown enemy zodiacs, and one of the Kaptial’s crew bravely goes on the offensive using one of their own inflatables. At the same time, through sepia-toned flashbacks, Wood details a number of strange ecological incidents that led to tsunamis destroying coastal areas around the world, killing millions and throwing the global economy into flux as world shipping grinds to a halt.

For me, this book has come out at a time where I am prepped to receive something like this. I have a friend who has been peppering me with information about ocean going ships and the number of strange things that have fallen off of cargo ships and moved about by ocean currents, (which I have found fascinating, and want to hear more about), and there are a number of images in this book that echoed these factoids back at me. Also, a few years back I watched a few seasons of the show Whale Wars, a reality show/documentary about the Sea Shepherd organization and their work to stop whaling. This comic mirrors many elements of that group, and while the show highlighted some of their occasional ineptitude in order to make things exciting, having a fictionalized, functional group like them will be something exciting to read month by month.

[ASIDE: I should mention, currently, Captain Paul Watson, founding member of Sea Shepherd, is being held in Germany on old charges that most other countries had decided were unfounded and politically motivated. He may face extradition to Costa Rica, where he risks being killed due to a large bounty on his head, or, at the least, jail time. Hopefully, some of the public negativity this action has caused will lead to his release.]

This book is the beginning of something special. I am looking forward to reading it month by month and so far the premise and foundation that Wood has laid makes me quite excited. If it can capture the excitement of Whale Wars and depict a world that has suffered a global ecological shift well, I feel that this book will be something remembered for a long time after Wood wraps up his story in a few years’ time. The first issue is out today, (June 13^th, 2012), and will be well worth the $3.50 asking price if you choose to find a comic store to pick it up.