4.0/5.0 StarsRating if the Book Were a Movie: PG-13
Creative Team:
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Dan McDaid
Colors: Bill Crabtree
Letters: Jim Campbell
Cover: Dan McDaid
Editor: Daniel Chabon
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics/Flux House
Ratings:
Story: 3.8 Stars
Artwork: 4.1 Stars
Cover Artwork: 4.2 Stars
Dialogue: 3.9 Stars
Mechanics: 4.0 Stars
Editing: 4.0 Stars
About the Book:
Five years ago the United States military discovered a gate to the quantum realm. After many journeys into this realm they have established something of a foothold on the planet Terminus. Everything about this planet is hostile. The environment and the native lifeforms are doing their best to kill humans.
Robin Reed is a combat correspondent that is joining an elite incursion force on a mission to Terminus. She’s seasoned. She’s been on more operations than the rest of the team combined. Her experience does not begin to prepare her for what she is in store for on Terminus.
Reader’s Notes:
With my weekly pilgrimage to the local comic book store I have learned that sometimes you don’t find the book. Instead the book finds you. The first installment of “If You Find This, I’m Already Dead” was not on my radar when I went into the store on Wednesday.
It was sitting there on the shelf, a couple books to the right of where I was looking for “I Hate Fairyland” at. I saw it, continued looking for my intended target, grabbed my Fairyland book, and then gave this book a second look. From there it was added to the stack.
From the cover you can tell that “If You Find This, I’m Already Dead” is a war story. Members of the press typically don’t wear tactical vests when they’re in the field for basic assignments. From the statue I saw on the cover, I expected to see a plot based somewhere in the Far East. Technically, Terminus is far and at some point the party traverses east; but I got that one wrong. What we actually get is far better.
I appreciated how the story is spot on about how quickly momentum can shift in war. There have been many conflicts where things were going well, or one side was holding their own, right up to the moment they weren’t. Not fully understanding the enemy’s capabilities and resources can lead to disastrous consequences.
I am hoping that as the series goes along we will get a bit more character development. We learned a little bit about Robin in the beginning of the book. Aside from her being a seasoned reporter we don’t have much to go on. With the foundation of the story having been established, I’m hoping we’ll get more nuggets of information about her as the series progresses.
The premise of this title reminds me of “Stargate” and “Starship Troopers”. Both are classics in their own ways. With “If You Find This, I’m Already Dead” Mr. Kindt has given us a book that has the potential to be on that level. We are simultaneously given a war story and a story about fighting oppression that transcends planets and species.
I’m very impressed with the artwork on this cover. It’s detailed and intriguing. The cover convinced me to buy this issue. That’s precisely what a good cover should do.
McDaid doesn’t let off the gas when we get to the interior pages. His artistic style has a way of establishing the setting that descriptive adjectives just can’t. You can feel the darkness while our heroes are negotiating the tunnel system.
As a geek on a budget I would say that “If You Find This, I’m Already Dead” is worth the price of admission. We get a fascinating story coupled with terrific artwork. I am very eager to see where this story takes us next.