The Twilight Zone #1

Writer J. Michael Straczynski Artist Guiu Vilanova

Introduction

Writer J. Michael Straczynski has some history with The Twilight Zone. He was involved in some of the reboots for that never got off the ground properly and Night Gallery. In interviews he has also revealed that he attempted to get a comic book series off the ground since 1991. Apparently he has been chasing the comic book license ever since. Many have voiced some disapproval to the writer starting things, and not finishing them on his own terms. Thankfully, the writer is only committing to twelve issues here, which means there is less margin for error. He also revealed that it is going to take the structure of twelve issue arcs, which should serve the series for the better, as these stories could not possibly go on forever. With someone who has some devout passion for the series like JMS, it seems like the tale could not be in better hands.

Writing

This first installment of The Twilight Zone has a very simple story, something that is very close to the older show, but with a more modern twist. Comedian Chris Hardwick recently had a joke where he said that every The Twilight Zone story could be boiled down to the phrase “Nice Try A--hole.” This comic book reinforces that to the best degree, then introduces some other plot wrinkles to keep things going. Some might scoff at stripped down the story is here, but it is interesting enough to pay close attention too. It also helps if readers have little knowledge of what is going on here prior to reading, to preserve that ideal I will not dive into plot summary.

Art

Guiu Vilanova has some really interesting pencils on this title. He draws characters that are mostly photo-realistic. Sometimes they look quite good, and other times they just pale in comparison to previous pages. The work is very inconsistent, and has some lines that are thin, and very unruly. For the most part backgrounds are quite sparse, this artist seems like he is still working on perfecting his style throughout. There are flashes of brilliance contained within facial expressions or random bursts of energy. The artist is from Barcelona, and features a style that looks nothing like anything that would be published over at DC and Marvel, yet the big two should still take note. It would be easy to slice apart the art further, but it seems clear that Vilanova is onto something, and is going to be a completely different artist at the end of this book. Colors are muted and serious, which fit the tone of the story quite well. Vinicius Andrade brings a formidable palette to the interiors.

Conclusion

There is a really simplistic, but interesting story going on in The Twilight Zone #1. JMS and artist Guiu Vilanova suck fans into the new tale with ease. This does a great job at feeling close to the original series, with a slightly modern twist. Fans of the property will likely be amused by this story.