Review: TRILLIUM #1

TRILLIUM #1
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Jeff Lemire
Release Date: August 7, 2013

STK617277A story told in parallel, with one protagonist from the far future and one from nearly one hundred years hence, Trillium opens with a choice. Do you follow the man or do you follow the woman? Do you unceasingly search for the past or do you desperately rush to save the future? And at the center of it all is a single plant that could hold the key to illumination, salvation… even love.

Lemire has a bold task ahead of him with Trillium to get readers involved and invested in what is planned as a finite eight-issue mini-series. Not graced with the long form of Sweet Tooth — one of my personal favorite post-apocalyptic tales that ran forty issues — or the done-in-one bang of a graphic novel like last year’s exceptional Underwater Welder, the writer needs to come out of the gate running and hook us immediately into this brave new (or old, as the case may be) world. There’s no question in my mind Lemire succeeds on this count, as the first chapter is both intriguing and full of fascinating parallels that already beg for dissection. The story of the Incan goddess, who is split in two and seeds the world with plants, weighs against Nika’s own surprising ingestion of the plant meant to save the human race. The disease and devastation that overtook the western world in World War I juxtaposes with the onslaught of a sentient virus looking to conquer more and more land, at an ever-increasing contraction rate. We’re left with a single issue that feels like more than the sum of its two parts, as readers are offered the opportunity to begin connecting dots right away.

Lemire’s signature rough style is a perfect match for the anxiety and anticipation of both lead actors, giving Nika and William each a certain desperation even through moments of rest or wonder. Certainly, the world of 3797 feels a bit more fantastic, tenuous even, than the jungles or museum interiors of 1921, but as well it should. As if out of a dream — and paralleling William’s own nightmares of the war, again — the landscape of this alien world rises, and even the shadows cast by Nika and her rover onto its surface seem unearthly in nature. With limited advertisement to disrupt the flow of the flip book, I find myself going back and forth, flipping forward and backward, turning the issue to check details and make comparisons. One should honestly pick up this book if only to marvel at how the relative simplicity of the structure of a flip-book can become such a prolonged experience.

A beautifully designed first issue in what appears to be Jeff Lemire’s next successful heartbreaker, Trillium has a little bit of something for everyone — mystery, time travel, sci-fi, and as would seem, even romance. And at the center of it all is a simple flower. Elegantly constructed, yet layered with complexity, this series is well on its way to becoming yet another classic Vertigo Comics masterpiece. For all those that thought the imprint was at its end earlier this year, this is one book (of a few brilliant launches of late) that clearly settles the score.

The Verdict: 9.5/10

 

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