This is what ‘In over your head’ looks like.

Eden’s Fall

Writer: Matt Hawkins & Bryan Hill

Artist: Atilio Rojo

Colors: K. Michael Russell

Letters: Troy Peteri

Editor: Ryan Candy

Production: Tricia Ramos

Covers:  Rahsan Ekedal & K. Michael Russell; Linda Sejic

Publisher: Image Comics & Top Cow Productions

Pulling together characters from Postal, Think Tank and The Tithe, Eden’s Fall delivers intrigue and danger on a vast level. When a right-wing terrorist escapes justice and hides out at the criminal version of Storybrooke, former FBI agents James Miller and Dwayne Campbell begin an unauthorized manhunt in an effort to take him (and anyone helping him) down. Matt Hawkins and Bryan Hill’s writing lays out all the players in a way that gives you the exposition needed if you’ve not read the previous stories, while at the same time, constantly building the world and characters so that the issue doesn’t feel bogged down too much in ‘previously in…’ moments. You realize immediately that James and Dwayne, though on the side of the angels, are in way, way over their heads as they are outgunned, out-teched and out-manned on all levels.

Atilio Rojo’s artwork does a great job of supporting the story, though there’s an odd, almost plastic feel to the characters that’s a bit jarring, especially in comparison to Rahsan Ekedal’s work on the cover and previous work on Think Tank. In some ways this actually heightens the surreal quality of Eden, the town in which the aforementioned terrorist has taken refuge, everything seems so utterly small town normal that you know there’s rottenness underneath.

Overall this is a bang-up first issue that lays the groundwork for several storylines, and puts you on edge from the moment James takes his first steps across the town’s border.

4 out of 5 baseball bats.