The Manhattan Projects, Volume 1 "Science. Bad."

The Manhattan Projects, Volume 1 "Science. Bad." by Jonathan Hickman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Twisted, bizarre, with insane clarity. This is a brilliant graphic novel that promises to grow into a fantastic series. There's more to The Manhattan Projects than The Manhattan Project. Atomic bombs? Child's play. There's much more afoot and much more at stake in this secret history of science. And the government's aims are not the only layered ambitions. There's also the question of Oppenheimer, Einstein, Feynman, Fermi, Daghlian, and Von Braun and their individual aims, let alone their real identities. This is complex storytelling, spaghetti code in graphic novel format. Each character is fascinating in and of himself. Throw them together in the context of super-secret projects that could change, and possibly destroy, the world, or possibly many worlds, and you've got a knockout combination. The artwork is evocative and well-presented, the dialogue shows just enough restraint to let the underlying genius of the storytelling leak through, and the plot, while incomplete in this volume, has the most potential for being something monumental that I've seen in a graphic novel in some time. Even the colors ring of Moebius in all the right ways. This is "the whole package," utterly coherent. I'm hoping against hope that Hickman can sustain the excitement and intrigue in upcoming volumes and look forward to watching his next trick.

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