- Created & Written by: Matthew Mossotti
- Illustration by: Sedat Oezgen (Episode 0, II, III)
- Illustration by: Joe Dodd (Episode I)
- Illustration by: Simon Myers (Episode III)
- Color by: Josh Rowan (Episode I)
- Color by: Travis Fantazir (Episode I)
- Color by: Francesca Pisceitelli (Episode 0, II, III)
- Color by: Fabio D’Auria (Episode II)
- Color by: Claudia Giuliani (Episode III Cover)
- Shot Composition by: Giovanni Valletta
- Graphic design & Book Layout by: Alex Mossotti
- Executive Producer: Glenn Turner
Thanks to Jeremy Nichols with Planet Me Productions for the review copy!
The SpeciMen Trilogy is an ambitious book packed with a complex mythology, big ideas, and a large cast. Don’t believe me? Here is the official logline:
In the struggle for control over humans souls that determines the fate of the light in the next galactic iteration, the netherworld underneath space-time leverages a digital interface to the metalogic of human minds to gain control of a terrestrial technology which enables their escape to a binary system (Gog & Magog) where they will stage the final war for control of the portals which connect the Life Planets of the galaxy.
There’s a lot to unpack, and clocking in at just under 500 pages, plenty of time to acclimate to the story.
For most of the volume, The SpeciMen Trilogy functions a lot like an illustrated movie script. Rather than speech bubbles, snippets of script surround the pictures to provide dialogue. Perhaps the most innovative decision was the inclusion of a suggested soundtrack of songs to pair with the reading (Smashing Pumpkins and Muse appear more than once). This is a cool idea, and in keeping with the saga script feel of the book. The last part of the book, the Resilience Manifestos are more text based, but still has some illustrations.
While the SpeciMen Trilogy seems to be inspired by classic mythology and the Bible, I also sensed some hints of influence from modern media such as Godzilla style kaiju movies, courtroom dramas, and Mortal Kombat. Art wise, this results in some epic ‘special effects’ panels.
This book is the rare comic that I feel is too big and ambitious to even attempt to adapt into a movie or TV show. In that sense, the comic medium is perfect for a project like this. I think this project is more geared towards adults, as it has violence and may be difficult to follow for young readers.
SpeciMen Trilogy is now available as a Kindle version on Amazon
Are you going to pick up the issue? Have you already? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter!
