Black Mirror: the graphic novel(s) - USS Callister & San Junipero- Advanced Review

Writer: Neil Gibson

Artist(s): Silvano Beltramo

Letterer: Rob Jones

Cover: Butcher Billy

Published: Twisted Comics

What is It?

Have you watched Black Mirror on Netflix? The safe assumption is that you have and can also recognize it as a modern The Twilight Zone. Similar to the dark weirdness which is making a comeback thanks to a resurrected EC Comics, the techno-paranoia of Black Mirror has come to comics with an official adaptation from Twisted Comics.

Preview Pages:

What it’s About?

Issue 1 is a comic adaptation of Black Mirror’s most popular episode, the season 4 premiere "USS Callister." It acts as an homage to nostalgia for Star Trek the original series while also telling a much darker story. That a programmer who traps his coworkers’ consciousness in a procedurally generated game scenario based on the that show. In the shadow of that retro-futurism hides elements of The Matrix mixed with Ready Player One and that episode of The Twilight Zone with that terrible little god-kid. 

What Works

• Similar to how self-aware that episode of Black Mirror was, the comic follows suit. It’s a dark bit of speculative fiction disguised as a retro-comic-homage.

• Silvano Beltramo, acts as two artists to shift between the gritty real world scenes and the retro-kirby aesthetic for the virtual world skinned to appear as Star Trek the original series.

• The graphic novel is filled with excellent story telling choices, making great use of modern and golden-aged (Kirberyesque) page layouts and panel-counts to emphasize the differences between the two worlds this story is set in.

• Another bit of meta-context: Before the comics were official, series creator Charlie Brooker was already a fan of Butcher Billy’s retro-inspired Black Mirror fan posters.

  
  

What Doesn’t Work.

• I’m old enough to remember the unabashed instinct to pick up comic adaptations of Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. The indiscriminate desire for just about anything with those titles made picking up such comics a no-brainer. Times have changed, comics are pricier and readers are little more discerning that could all work against any but the most earnest Black Mirror completist.

• If you’ve watched the episode being adapted then there’s not much in the way of surprises, so it becomes a question of how well do you remember the episode and will you appreciate the story-telling choices.

• There are a handful of pages somewhere in the graphic novel’s final 3rd where the artwork becomes a little rushed and the story telling becomes a bit cramped. The partition between the two art styles breaks down a bit with certain plot details becoming obscured by a lack of space on a page. It’s something that may cause a reader to stop and flip back a few pages to double-check. 

Why Should I Read it?

• This sort of weird fiction genre is on the comeback. If the Black Mirror comics can continue to deliver these subtle how-tos  in comic storytelling, then the more indie-fringe approach to comics storytelling can be more widely read.

• Twisted Comics are creators to watch as they are determined to push the boundary of trans-media comics & story-telling. They are bringing their flagship title Twisted Dark to VR on META as a new kind of immersive comic reading experience. It’s not a game, but a different way to read comics inside a fully atmospheric environment. This includes 8 full volumes of Twisted Dark, over 75 connected stories which readers can follow in the original publishing order via individual character perspectives. Here's the META coming soon page in case you’d like a quick look: https://www.meta.com/experiences/24369259759396352/

How Do I Buy Them?

The graphic novel adaptation is available in paperback & hardcover here:  https://www.twistedcomics.co.uk/product/black-mirror-uss-callister-pre-order/ 

Or you can head over to the kickstarter campaign for their follow-up issue; it’s an adaptation of the Emmy-winning Black Mirror episode  San Junipero. Rather than a paranoid tale of kidnapped consciousness found in USS Callister it’s a Sci-fi Sapphic Romance beautifully illustrated by Flavio Soares Samantha Dodge. Their pre-launch page only hints at the attention to detail found behind another cover by Butcher Billy. This time the book cover pays homage to romance comics of yore. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neilgibsoncomics/black-mirror-san-junipero

The folks at Twisted Comics are also running a contest where winners can be drawn into the pages of SAN JUNIPERO https://www.twistedcomics.co.uk/black-mirror-comics/

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