Review: Outer Darkness
You thought outer space was scary, with the possibility of encountering homicidal bug-eyed monsters? You don’t know the half of it. In writer John Layman and artist Afu Chan’s Outer Darkness there is indeed a race of violent insectoid aliens out there, and they are indeed waging a long, bloody war with Earth and her allies… but it gets worse. Much worse. The aliens are just a starter, an hors d'oeuvres, because in addition to that, space is full of demons.
Yes, actual demons. Never mind energy weapons and force fields, your ship had better have an army of highly trained exorcists on board to fend off the legions of hellspawn that will infect your vessel and possess your crew. Even then, your helmsman might turn green and start projectile vomiting before trying to feast on your flesh…
Death is a constant reality…. But don’t worry, the ship also has sorcerers who can pull back your soul and place it into a newly cloned body.
Faster than light travel is achieved by harnessing the power of a captive god. Simply feed it a criminal or two and you’re good to go.
This blending of sci-fi and the supernatural may sit uneasily for some but it is not without precedent. Veteran gamers will be familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe in which space marines battle the evil Chaos Gods and their many demonic manifestations. These were in turn inspired by the stories of HP Lovecraft, who specialised in “cosmic horror”: sinister occult beings drawn not from religion or mythology but conceived as hideously alien creatures from the cold, dark, mysterious depths of outer space.
Boldly going through this mind-shattering universe is the intrepid Captain Joshua Rigg aboard the starship Charon. He and his multispecies crew are sent directly into the ‘Outer Darkness’ - the source of all evil? – on a mission so secret even they do not know what it is. That is not Rigg’s only problem; many of his crew are far from being his biggest fans, so there are threats from within as well as from without.
This insane escapade is rendered in cartoon style, in particular the various spectral monstrosities which are caricatures of mythical hobgoblins, as viewed by someone on a VERY bad acid trip… In one sense this is appropriate to the OTT events depicted, and in another sense jarring considering the dark delivery. Nevertheless it all fits together smoothly, with the Star Trek type setting (a space navy of uniformed humans and humanoids) more or less holding their own against the arcane horrors of the abyss. Think: Next Generation vs Chthulu Mythos, with a touch of The Exorcist thrown in for good measure.
Of course, it does not take itself too seriously, with a tone that is camp if not downright comical. There is humour (the ship’s ‘crone’ is using her power of illusion to appear as a voluptuous feline in order to seduce the musclebound tattooed shipman Agwe) and equally gleeful gore (torture, decapitation, gallons of blood and guts strewn about in every direction).
With Halloween fast approaching this little slice of cosmic horror sci-fi is a monster mash like no other...
Zak Webber
This blending of sci-fi and the supernatural may sit uneasily for some but it is not without precedent. Veteran gamers will be familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe in which space marines battle the evil Chaos Gods and their many demonic manifestations. These were in turn inspired by the stories of HP Lovecraft, who specialised in “cosmic horror”: sinister occult beings drawn not from religion or mythology but conceived as hideously alien creatures from the cold, dark, mysterious depths of outer space.
Boldly going through this mind-shattering universe is the intrepid Captain Joshua Rigg aboard the starship Charon. He and his multispecies crew are sent directly into the ‘Outer Darkness’ - the source of all evil? – on a mission so secret even they do not know what it is. That is not Rigg’s only problem; many of his crew are far from being his biggest fans, so there are threats from within as well as from without.
This insane escapade is rendered in cartoon style, in particular the various spectral monstrosities which are caricatures of mythical hobgoblins, as viewed by someone on a VERY bad acid trip… In one sense this is appropriate to the OTT events depicted, and in another sense jarring considering the dark delivery. Nevertheless it all fits together smoothly, with the Star Trek type setting (a space navy of uniformed humans and humanoids) more or less holding their own against the arcane horrors of the abyss. Think: Next Generation vs Chthulu Mythos, with a touch of The Exorcist thrown in for good measure.
Of course, it does not take itself too seriously, with a tone that is camp if not downright comical. There is humour (the ship’s ‘crone’ is using her power of illusion to appear as a voluptuous feline in order to seduce the musclebound tattooed shipman Agwe) and equally gleeful gore (torture, decapitation, gallons of blood and guts strewn about in every direction).
With Halloween fast approaching this little slice of cosmic horror sci-fi is a monster mash like no other...
Zak Webber
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