Since this review was posted, Warren Ellis was outed as an abuser. As comic books are a collective effort, this review will remain live, but I cannot in good faith recommend purchasing this book or other works by this person.
Comic book reviews for Shipwreck #1, Shipwreck #2, and Shipwreck #3 by Warren Ellis and Phil Hester
Average rating: 3/5 stars
Shipwreck #1 by Warren Ellis
Art: Phil Hester
Not sure what to really think about Dr. Jonathan Shipwright and the experimental spacecraft he was part of. This is very Ellis. It is the questions he loves about reality, space, and our desperate attempts (or should-be attempts) to leave Earth for something we haven’t destroyed.
Did Jonathan end up in a different dimension? Did the experiment destroy some fabric of reality and part of Earth changed, which is where he is? Is he on another planet and seeing some 2001-like reality? Is this his mind trying to make sense of a world unlike anything human biology can experience? Or is he just dead?
I don’t know any of these things. But the Inspector really seems like one of those aliens who’s trying to figure out everything about you.
The lady frying up her chef boyfriend, who was going to leave her for culinary training, was pretty funny. Black Ellis humor. Probably my favorite part of the book.
Hester’s art is all sharp lines. If this is another world, another reality, it does add to the alien effect. It’s very harsh.
Shipwreck #2 by Warren Ellis
Art: Phil Hester
Called the mystery on Jonathan being in another dimension.
Welp, there’s certainly a lot of death. Mr. Bank is definitely one of those guys who just does his thing. Even if his thing is disposing of bodies. Bodies that slowly broke apart due to living people being put under a giant bell and being split apart. I can’t help but wonder how much Ellis researched the damage of sound waves and vibrations.
Though Hester’s art shows less trauma on the guy we see Mr. Bank cut up, let the birds eat, and then smash the guy’s bones than the one under the bell. Valeska Halter seems rather keen on putting Jonathan under it. Especially with that eye on ominous ending phrase.
So does Jonathan turn into dust or are we just seeing his trail through the world.
Shipwreck #3 by Warren Ellis
Art: Phil Hester
I still feel I haven’t made a solid connection with this book. It seems clear that Jonathan ended up in another dimension and is trying to get home or trying to find clues about how to get back. It continues to be very 2001.
While we see a few of the bureaucratic, pre-flight moments, I’m not sure what they add. Perhaps I just know because it’s an Ellis book, people fucked up, but some shady government shit also happened.
I do want to know more about Jonathan’s crewmates. We have a little glimpse into Aubrey May, who’s dead. Or at least her carin-covered skeleton with dog tags suggests she is.
It was nice to see Jonathan get some sleep.