Customer Reviews

Fathom, Vol. 1

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First a confession: This was an impulse buy with the intent to get the needed $25 for my free shipping from Amazon. That being said, I was familiar with, and fond of, Michael Turner's work with Witchblade, having already spent a small fortune on those titles. The art in Fathom is just as terrific, though the story was a bit lacking. While I generally can't put a good graphic novel down, it took several sittings to make it through Fathom. If you are a fan of comics, and most importantly comics with hot chicks, then you'll likely enjoy Fathom. Just don't expect it to change your life in any meaningful way.

Michael Turner struck gold with his earlier work on Witchblade. I was nuts over his work on that former book. Beautiful women and ultra-detailed backgrounds. Then when he left that book, I was very upset for a long while....

That was until my Fathom Hardcover Deluxe Collected Edition arrived in the mail! His work here is better than ever. Even more fluid than his work in Witchblade - although I have to say that there are pieces in Witchblade that will remain very special to me.

Top Cow puts in the highest production quality into their comic-books. This book is the perfect example of holding a summer-blockbuster movie in your hands. The effect is really THAT mind-blowing. Bill O'Neil's writing is overly wordy at times and there are many hanging plotlines left at the end of this volume. But after the whole experience of reading this book, well, I don't think you'll care about all its faults. Ultimately, the book is about Aspen Matthew's search for her true identity - human or water-being, warrior or pacifist, princess or destroyer.

If you like the movie, "The Abyss", you'll love this book. Or if you've ever wondered about the mysteries of the deep, the Bermuda Triangle, or the existence of pre-human intelligence, you'll love this book.

The Fathom saga begins with a brief flashback to ten years before the period in which the main story unfolds, to where a cruise ship called the Paradise is returning to port in San Diego after a decade's unexplained abscence, with an unaged crew and a memory-less little girl named Aspen. Ten years later, Aspen Matthews is a young oceanic scientist about to head off to a plum assignment at a secretive, joint US/Japan underwater research facility, where will begin pivotal events in the planet's history.

Or perhaps, to say 'where pivotal events will begin coming to light' would be more accurate. Fathom is the story of the meeting of worlds, of the human world and other races and civilizations here on Earth that mankind never had any idea existed. Except, perhaps, for certain individuals. Aspen is the central figure - both to the book and to a number of secrets within this new mythos introduced here - but a good-sized cast of other interesting characters are introduced and established in this volume, which reprints the first 9 issues of the original late-90s Fathom ongoing as well as the Fathom Preview Book (whose pages are presented in color for the first time).


The art by Michael Turner (also the book's writer) grows in quality over the course of the issues. From the very beginning, he excels at drawing creatures, technology and hardware, landscapes and seascapes, marine life (gorgeously rendered sea turtles, dolphins, fish, etc.) and just about everything else, but he does run into some trouble early on with humans - specifically facial features and proportions - in the first couple issues (page 10 of the first issue has a kind of glaring example). It's certainly not in every scene (and is absent from most key events and from the covers), but where it does happen it can be slightly distracting. Over the course of the 9 issues, though, these shortcomings largely disappear (and the rest of the art gets, if anything, even better). The problems in the first couple of issues certainly aren't nearly as bad as some instances I've seen where it's a major weakness for its comic, and in the last 5 or 6 issues the overall art is just astonishing. The color throughout the whole volume is outstanding. The concepts are great, the action spectacular and the writing is strong - the only hitch is that some of the scenes are way too short, almost soundbitish; the effect of the scene is sometimes hampered and the dialogue gets shortened, making it less engaging than in the great majority of the book. This material should have originally filled ten issues instead of nine, in my opinion - that would have solved this problem easily.

Despite a few chinks in this volume's armor though, I can't give it anything less than five stars. This book catapulted Fathom into the upper tiers of the comic book concepts I love the most, putting it roughly on par with some of the books I've loved for years and years.

In addition to the regular issue covers, the covers of the Collected Editions and almost all the variant covers are also reprinted here in all their sexy glory.

"Fathom" may be the best material Image Comics has ever published.

Michael Turner brings very tight and dynamic art to Fathom, highlighted by coloring and special effects that are second to none in the comic book world. The story is not as strong as the artwork, but it is certainly not deplorable either. The characters are a sometimes inconsistent, as is the pacing within the plot, but each page continues to move the story forward. It is surprising how little of the story actually focuses on Fathom, with the supporting characters driving most of the plot. But overall, the book is a pretty good read, and the visuals alone are enough to keep you turning the pages. Even if you don't particularily enjoy Michael Turner's style, you can't help but appreciate the level of detail and depth in each panel. Pretty solid book if you are looking for a light read.

Michael Turner deserves all the credit for this book. Before this I only came across Turners work in his Superman/Batman series. I loved his renderings of the Batman and Supes!
So I thought I would check out what else he had to offer. I was a bit hesitant when I ordered this book but once I read finished it there was no doubt in my mind. Michael Turner is AMAZING!
Read this if you want a great story with exceptional art.

Fathom begins in a world much like our own, but one where Japan and the US live in uneasy truce. Cooperation starts, with claws barely retracted, examining unearthly artifacts in a secret underwater lab.

Aspen appears in this world as a girl, arriving in mysteriously port on a ship lost for ten years. She always maintains contact with the sea, eventually becoming a marine biologist, then being invited to that secret lab. Then a third force appears, one that launches satellites of unknown purpose and that has its own fleet of underwater craft. A panicky Air Force pilot launches a torpedo at one of those craft, and unwittingly destroys that lab. World War III appears to be starting, in the form of series of sorties by the two world forces against each other ...

But it turns out that the third force, a race of underwater beings, is carrying out those attacks in order to goad the surface-dwellers into mutual destruction. Then it turns out that Aspen is a member of that race, and she alone has the power to stop that war, or to start one even bigger.

It's great adventure and well drawn - if you like stick-thin female figures and barrel-chested bad guys. Fathom can't lay claim to much in the way of plausibility, but it's a comic book fer cryin' out loud. And a pretty good one at that.

-- wiredweird

This is the best graphic novel/comic series period. I feel the creativity of Michael Turner is unmatched anywhere. If you only buy one graphic novel this year, this needs to be it.

This looks like the beginning of something fantastic! Something big.

The lady starring in this new comic has NO CLUE just how special she is! She is about to find out, THE HARD WAY.

There as humanoid creatures living beneath the sea, who are not too thrilled with their so-called government and plan to change things. Land humans beware!

Reviewed by Detra Fitch.