Graphic Novel Review: ‘Independence Day – Dark Fathom’
Written By Victor Gischler | Art By Steve Scott, Alex Shibao, Tazio Bettin, Rodney Ramos, Ivan Rodriguez | Published by Titan Comics
They came from the stars to destroy us… And we rose up as one to defeat them, but devestation still lurks in the ocean depths! In the wake of humanity’s triumph against the extraterrestrial threat, Captain Joshua Adams and Doctor Jessica Morgan discover that terror still lurks in the deep. Now, the crew of a small US Navy submarine is all that stands between Earth and our total destruction!
With Independence Day: Dark Fathom, Titan decided to jump into the Independence Day waters (there is a pun there, you will get it in a minute) and bring us a 5 issue mini-series, that connects to both ID4 movies… I wanted to soak all this story in so I waited for this collected edition, released last Summer, that brings together all five issues in one 128 page trade paperback.
Independence Day: Dark Fathom is somewhat of a new one on me in the way that it connects to not only the new movie but is set right around the same time as the first movie is ending. Literally the book opens right at the point Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum uploaded the virus and the alien ships started to fall. One ship falls into the Atlantic Ocean and is being tracked by an American submarine (See there is the pun payoff) and A team of military scientists. We spend the full 5 issues either on the sub with some really strong characters or with the away crew who investigate what the space craft is up to at the bottom of theocean. Is it just hiding out down there? Or is there something more sinister afoot?.
This is a hugely dialogue driven book, with some exhilarating moments of action that I found surprisingly unexpected. On writing duties we have Victor Gischler who has written for such great characters like Deadpool, Wolverine and Punisher. I love the dialogue in this book which is great because, typically, if the writing is poor it loses the audience – and whilst the dialogue here was giving you a lot of info, it all flowed naturally.
The artwork was primarily from Alex Shibao and Steve Scott amongst a couple others and I really liked the tone they were giving me here. It never once detracted from what I was reading but in the moments of action they had there time in the sun with a couple of sexy as hell splash pages. Also the main character of Joshua Adams, played by William Fichtner (from just about every movie you ever did see), was increddibly well drawn – bravo to those guys for hitting his likeness dead on.
So yes Independence Day: Dark Fathom is available now and – no matter your feelings about either movie – I whole-heartedly recommend this book to all. If you were a big fan of the original movie it its a great companion to that and if you were somewhat disappointed by the sequel, it’s actually a great take on the ID4 mythos.