Writer/Artist: Jay Gunn

Well it’s safe to say you won’t find many comics like this on the stands. Ever since Walking Dead came out over 10 years ago, there’s been a veritable flood of zombie related fiction in all sorts of form in all media. After a while, it can be hard to distinguish just what’s worth your time, and what isn’t, after all sometimes the lines can blur between what separates one story from another. Surface Tension thankfully doesn’t have that problem, while it does owe some of itself to zombie fiction; it also does a great blend of different types of stories not necessarily getting focus nowadays. Jay Gunn does a fantastic job acquitting himself both as a writer and artist on the first issue of this project.

The premise of Surface Tension is easy to grasp: the population of humanity is reduced following the events of a global plague that compelled people to walk into the sea. No one can enter or leave whatever land they’re already on. The series starts far into the aftermath of these traumatic events, and does a good job of establishing just how imperiled the world is post-apocalypse or not. Simply being able to sustain a community without constant replenishment of food, resources, or communication is a feat unto itself. That Gunn gives this a great deal of thought helps to give it a leg up over the competition, having a book that’s simply there to have people punch monsters can get boring after all, and the immediate problems of how to survive are as interesting as the how itself.

Now the art itself on Surface Tension is great. While it does tread the line between sci-fi and horror, the book Is compiled of realistic characters even in the midst of all the madness piling up in this first issue. The cast has a great deal of variety both in terms of the voices there, as well as look, and personality. In addition, the locales that show up in the story allow it to distinguish itself from typical sci-fi fare. All in all Surface Tension is a great book to jump into if you’re looking for a different kind of story to read on the stands.

4 out of 5 Coral Shells

Reviewed by Slewo