Unceremoniously transported to a parallel world, Hannah and the other members of their Antarctic research station find themselves facing off against alternate versions of themselves, in an alternate research station. These alternate selves are better prepared, better equipped, and they have the home court advantage. Plus, they actually know what’s going on, while Hannah and her team have only a vague idea.

Fortunately, there is someone on their team who knows at least a bit, and we get to hear the story of how all of this got started. It seems it’s much deeper and has been going on much longer than any of them could have realized.

We also get a flashback to Hannah’s father, before he disappeared. It seems he also knew more about this whole situation than he let on. Unfortunately, he’s still missing. Alternate Hannah may know something about what happened to him, but she and Hannah Prime aren’t exactly on speaking terms right now. It’s still unclear what the team from the parallel station want. They don’t want their counterparts killed, but they also clearly don’t have any warm and fuzzy feelings for them. It raises an important question for our heroes, though: Just how alike are they to their counterparts? Despite their differences, are they really the same people deep down?

There’s a lot going on in this comic. It’s not always easy to keep track of, but it’s a great ride, even when we have no idea where we’re going. This issue gives us a bit of a clearer look at the map, but the ultimate destination is still a mystery. The journey is one well worth taking, though.

We’ve just passed the halfway point, and, personally, I could easily keep reading about these two Antarctic research stations and the characters and mysteries therein, for a dozen issues or more. Thankfully, Image Comics and Top Cow announced in August that the series has been upgraded to an ongoing series. There’s certainly room to expand the story and the world. If you like parallel worlds, gritty sci-fi mysteries, and/or Antarctica in general, then you’ll definitely want to get on board with this comic.

Creative Team: Simon Birks (writer), Willi Roberts (artist, cover A), Lyndon White (letters), Alison Sampson (cover B)
Publisher: Image Comics, Top Cow Productions, Inc.
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