A meteor is coming to wipe out all of mankind and instead of sending Bruce Willis to destroy the son of a bitch, the government has set up life in outer space. All sorts of people get to board these ships that send them off of Earth in hopes they will start a new world so to speak. But of course, there aren’t enough ships for everyone. So some people will get left behind. I like the different approach on this comic. I feel like we always follow the Bruce Willis in Armageddon-like material, but instead we now follow the everyday people that aren’t trying to save the world but just trying to save themselves. That is where Elena comes in. She was rejected even though the rest of her family got the seal of approval to take off. This raises some great questions. Like how come Elena wasn’t approved? What could she have possibly done that was so messed up? Plus, I feel like she has sort of made up for it. She lives a healthy now. She has a husband and a child and by all present accounts is normal. There are a lot of guesses to be made, so I won’t even attempt to make one. All the mystery is good, but I do wish we could get small indications of what it might be. Like she was a secret agent and does some crazy karate move that we never saw coming. Or she is a bounty hunter and had it out for one of the government officials or made the who goes to space decision and carries these files around with her. Mine are extreme, but any small clue I think would push her story into intriguing as hell instead of just intriguing.
Anyway, I missed the first issue, but it pretty easy to see where the story came from. But what I did miss was more about this cult calling themselves The Children. They are spoken about a lot in this issue, but actually only one member of the group is seen and from that he only gets a page or two. So they must have some pretty big influence. I’m not sure about their mission either, but I would assume some of their members don’t even know what they are preaching about. It all seems very creepy but realistic too.
I think that is why I dig Frank J. Barbiere’s writing so much. Things at face value seem unrealistic, but when you dive into the issue you realize this all could totally happen. What the reader is finding out is there are a lot of individuals, families, and larger organizations just trying to survive the best way they know how. Everything appears to be in chaos with time running out. I would totally chill at home with alcohol and some movies, but hey that is just me.
Barbiere has a great story at hand. It has lots of different ways it can go. And almost has this survival of the fittest appeal. You really want to see where Elena goes next. I find myself after one issue attached to her. I haven’t even met her family, so it does seem odd of why they are not in the picture. Maybe they chose to live without her. You would like to think that she is doing all this work for them that maybe her husband is fighting hard for her. But something makes me think there is more to this family and definitely more to Elena.
Score: 3/5
Broken World #2 Writer: Frank J. Barbiere Artist: Christopher Peterson Colorist: Marissa Louise Publisher: BOOM! Studios Price: $3.99 Release Date: 7/1/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital