Needle in a [Comic] Haystack #2: ‘All of This Will Crumble’
Hi! Welcome back to Needle in a [Comic] Haystack, where I tell you all about the incredibly awesome comics that you’re missing out on because, honestly, there’s just so many of them. Today I’m going to talk about All of This Will Crumble, a single issue, one-off story that was published through Comixology’s indie imprint Comixology Submit.
For those of you who don’t know, Comixology is one of the foremost digital comic sites around. There you can purchase comics from the past, present and even pre-order future comics. If digital comics are something you dig, it’s a great, great site.
Not too long ago, Comixology decided to open itself up to comics not just published by the Big Comic Companies, but by, well, anyone. It’s a program called Comixology Submit. What happens is you submit a comic to Comixology, it’s reviewed – mostly, it seems, to make sure that it’s actually a comic and it’s put together correctly; I’ve not yet heard of a comic getting turned away due to content or “not being good enough” – and then, after it’s reviewed, it’s put on the site for anyone to buy.
Whenever a new comic day comes around, which is typically Wednesdays, then it’s put on the list alongside big hitters like Batman, Superman, and the like. It’s given the same chance that the rest of them have. It’s a great way to find some incredible indie comics (and, occasionally, some not great ones: comics are always a gamble).
Pretty recently, a new comic book day rolled around with All of This Will Crumble. A short, twenty-four page comic, written and illustrated by Brett Marcus Cook.
The comic has a small, quiet look. It’s the story of a man hiking to the top of a mountain to watch his world fall away. During the story, he walks, narrating what happened to the world. Something came down and started tearing everything apart. It’s unstoppable, unmovable, and without mercy. There’s nothing anyone can do. Despite most of the people the narrator knows running away from it, he decides to go to the top of a mountain and watch it as it comes over the horizon. If the world is going to end, he might as well watch it. He also has plans to meet a friend there, one he hasn’t seen for a very long time, and who recently went through some changes of her own.
While I won’t spoil it for you entirely, I will tell you not to expect a ton of action or intrigue; it’s a slow, solid story about a man climbing a mountain, reflecting on his life, and his coming death. It’s beautiful but not very pulse pounding.
There have been a lot of Comixology Submit comics throughout the years. This one may very well be my favorite.
If you’re even slightly inclined to check out All of This Will Crumble (and you should be), just head on over to the Comixology page and grab a copy (or check out the first few pages to see if it’s to your liking). Once you’re done, you can click the “Brett Marcus Cook” link to see what else he’s done or the Comixology Submit link to see how you too can become a professionally published comic creator.
That’s it for this week. See you next time!
