- Writers: Matthew Rosenberg
- Artist: Tyler Boss
- Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Thanks to Image Comics and Seen All Over Media for the review copy!
What’s the Furthest Place From Here is a post-apocalyptic story populated by teens that drops you right into the middle of the story without any explanation. Early in the book, a splash page announces this is “Based on a true story” which really threw me as this doesn’t quite seem possible. While it is disorienting at first, it allows the reader to slowly figure out what is going on. This approach also gets your brain working, pondering questions like, what is this sickness they are referring to, where are the adults, and what exactly happened to make the world this way?
The issue keeps you off balance, throwing in references about what the world is like without really giving up much information, with references to curfews and illnesses. The art enhances the feeling of confinement with tight panels and a color palette that really makes you feel like you are stuck inside a dark building. One of the strengths of the issue is how well its coloring enhances the atmosphere of the story. While the early chapters feature characters confined to a building, things get even creepier when we get a look outside. This is when things really start to ramp up plot and action wise. It is also this part of the story when things start making a bit more sense, so don’t give up if you are initially confused.
This isn’t a book that spoon feeds you information – details slowly trickle out during the story, which makes you feel like you’ve earned something when you finally feel like you’re starting to figure some things out. Issue one does an admirable job of slowly revealing the world of What’s the Furthest Place From Here? by answering some of the readers’ questions but leaving so many open for future issues. After the first issue, I am more interested in the world and the situation the characters are in than the characters themselves, so it will be interesting to see if the book tries to get the readers to invest more in them in future issues. Either way, this series is off to a promising start. If you like post-apocalyptic stories and are comfortable with the long reveal, this is a book I highly recommend checking out. It does have a fair amount of cursing and some mild violence so some parental discretion is advised.
What’s the Furthest Place From Here? #1 is now available.
Are you going to pick up the issue? Have you already? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
