Review: Bear Serum
Bear Serum by author/artist Kyle Fleischhacker is a surreal tale of interspecies war on a world "colonised" by refugees from Earth. Driven from their homeworld by aggressive Martians, the people of Earth settle on a planet they call 'Earth 2', building underground levels to live in, away from the hostile native atmosphere. Also hostile are the native inhabitants - the jawtings - who wage a mostly ineffective guerrilla warfare against the invaders.
Young soldier Taran arrives on the planet and soon finds that dodging jawting patrols is not the only threat to the fragile subterranean Utopia. His superior, General Pine, has an interest in unethical experimentation, his goal the creation of super soldiers. One such method is 'bear serum' which turns the human subject into a great hulking beast...
The style of Bear Serum is very much on the alternative side, the artwork sketchy and expressionistic, bordering on the abstract at times. The pages are monochrome and interspersed with QR codes that send the reader to short video clips that add a little colour and music to the main story.
If you're looking for a conventional comic, this is most definitely not it. This is, instead, an almost hallucinatory trip into ever deeper layers of the creator's imagination. Like Orpheus on his quest, the reader descends with Taran into mysterious depths, the nightmarish Level 4 with its monster denizens, in search of the missing major's daughter.
It's quite a ride and a times it can get a bit bewildering. It won't be to everyone's taste, but with so many new creators continually emulating the same elements and style as the mainstream, it is great to see someone doing something different. At 211 pages it will keep you diverted for quite a while, never knowing what is going to appear around the next corner.
The interactive elements are a nice touch, adding extra dimensions to the reader's experience... so if you are looking for something out of the ordinary, this is certainly it. Science fiction is the perfect genre for experimental approaches, so give this a look for a fresh take on a journey into the unknown.
Zak Webber
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