The Horizon Experiment was conceived by Thai-American comic book writer/editor Pornsak Pichetshote. He was musing on how cool it would be to see big, blockbuster-style stories from culturally different perspectives. He curated five issues, thirty-two pages each, with four other creative teams to act as pilots for ongoing series. Each team was given the challenge to create a protagonist with a marginalized background and set them in a popular genre, ranging from spy thriller to horror to adventure. If you missed them the first time around, Image Comics has conveniently collected them in one trade paperback.
The anthology starts with Pornsak Pichetshote’s own creation, Manchurian. His take on the spy genre riffs on Ian Fleming’s James Bond but also incorporates elements from John le Carré’s novels. Set in America, Calvin Low is a secret agent running cover missions. He does his best to keep his work and private lives separate. Pichetshote does a great job of modernizing the genre, maintaining its edge while removing much of the racism and sexism rampant in Fleming’s series. (Fleming was a master of the written word; it’s a shame his worldview wasn’t as progressive.) Terry Dodson’s art looks clean, slick, and precise, like the spy’s outer appearance, but, like all secret agents, the darker aspects of his personality are revealed the harder you scratch.
The second story in the Horizon Experiment is Sacred Damned, written by Sabir Pirzada and with art by Michael Walsh. Here, aspiring pro football player Kyle starts eating and keeps gaining weight, no matter how he tries to keep it off. When Kyle’s sleep-eating gets him into trouble, Dr. Inayah Jabril suggests it may be something else—something supernatural. Playing on tropes from paranormal “case of the week” mystery shows and Constantine, Pirzada presents an excellent take on demons, possession, and the necromancers who cast them out. Walsh’s art is dark and full of shadows and monsters to give your nightmares nightmares.
Tanarive Due, author and documentarian of Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, presents us with Moon Dogs. A werewolf story that takes place in Little Havana, Florida, it wastes no time with its gore and noir-like story. While it is horror, the tone feels closer to Teen Wolf than An American Werewolf in London, with its family of werewolves. Kelsey Ramsey’s art is lighter than Michael Walsh’s shadowy demons, but the monsters are just as terrifying.
It was weird to me that J. Holtman’s Motherf***ing Monsters was not my cup of tea, given its roots and inspiration came from one of my favorite movies, Evil Dead. A general complaint that I have for most of these stories is that the restrictive thirty-two pages leave some plot strings a little short and over too quickly, but Motherf***ing Monsters is the only comic in the Horizon Experiment that leaves an actual cliffhanger. Michael Lee Harris’ artwork is very cartoony, but still brings a different feel to this story than the others. I feel like I need to reserve full judgment until I read the rest of the story.
I previously reviewed Finders // Keepers when it was initially released a few months ago as a single issue, and my thoughts remain the same: Many people have talked about doing the “reverse Indiana Jones,” and Vita Ayala’s book finally did it well. It was nice seeing it in context with the other comics in the Horizon Experiment and how well it fit with what was accomplished.
I would have loved to have more time in these worlds. Also, the sometimes self-aware acknowledgement of the franchises they are riffing on slightly took me out of the story for a moment. I feel like if this was a young reader’s first entry into this type of genre, this story should be their gateway, rather than the established franchises. It doesn’t take away from the validity of the influence, and you can still recommend them as inspiration, which was mostly done in the essays afterward by each writer.
These stories aren’t hack-y rip-offs of the past that you’d see when the coals of a genre are still hot. They’re not a studio trying to make a quick buck, throwing something at the wall and hoping it will stick. These are creators who clearly loved the franchise sthey are paying homage to, but also want to see people like them better represented, maybe even serving as the hero. All in all, the Horizon Experiment did what it set out to do, and did it well.
Creative Team: Pornsak Pichetshote, Sabir Pirzada, Tananarive Due, J Holtham, Vita Ayala (writers), Kelsey Ramsay (artist/cover artist), Terry Dodson (artist/cover artist), Michael Walsh (artist), Michael Lee Harris (artist), Skylar Patridge (artist)
Publisher: Image Comics
Click here to purchase.
