By: Rachel Freeman
Elsewhere is published by Image Comics. It is written by Jay Faerber with art by Sumeyye Kesgin.
I want to start off by saying, I’m a big Amelia Earhart buff. Like…pretty much if the plot involves a “what happened to Amelia Earhart” I’m going to read it. Even though new information and forensic evidence points to her and Fred Noonan most likely dying as castaways on Nikumaroro a.k.a. Gardner Island. But that’s not the point. The point is all of these amazing stories, like this one, that people have come up with “explaining” what happened on that day she disappeared in 1937. It’s not just the mystery people love, but Amelia herself, her determination, her personality, how vibrant and lively she was, how snarky and intelligent, how she set so many trends for women just by being herself. She was truly an amazing human being. She deserves these immaculate tales.
We start our story with two beast-like humanoid creatures who have just escaped from some kind of prison. While they’re out, they hear someone screaming and they come across Amelia Earhart, trapped by her parachute. Though these beats have never seen humans, they help her anyway. But Amelia can’t find Fred. The only clue the beasts have is the word “plane”, a word that is foreign to them but that they have heard once. In the prison. Which they now have to help Amelia break back into the prison with the help of some cool flying dragon-bird things.
So, to start off, the art for this comic is great. I love the details, especially on the beast humanoids. Sumeyye Kesgin adds just the right amount of detail so you can tell these creatures are covered in fur but still have that human resemblance. And Jay Faerber does an amazing job capturing Amelia Earhart. The up for anything, fearless, daring, and spunky woman we have all heard so much about in history class. She’s just fun and funny and witty and fabulous. Faerber and Kesgin do a fantastic job creating this new world. It’s very much fantasy but still parts of it remind me of the images you see portraying the Jurassic period. I love the high-tech machinary but primitive look of the inhabitants of this world. And the surprise at the end just makes me even more excited to see what this series has in store.
OVERALL SCORE: 9.5 / 10
The aspect of this comic I wasn’t a huge fan of was the language. Other than the names of people, places, and things, there wasn’t any special slang I noticed from this world that isn’t our world. There were no differing terms for things, no distinct manner of speech differences. And while it may have made things move along faster, I don’t know that I could really believe (yes, I’m knitpicking at believability in a fantasy world, I know) that they just happened to speak English, though they call it “Korvathian”. I mean, we don’t even speak English across our own world, let alone should it be the primary language of a world English speaking humans have never seen.
Although, we don’t know the history of this planet. Maybe these creatures came from humans, or maybe humans will eventually grow from them, maybe humans visited before, who knows! I do hope it gets explained though, even if it’s in passing. It’s not a major plot point, it just bothers me for some reason.
But make sure you pick up a copy of Elsewhere #1 from your local comic store!
(Side note: If this or comics like this interest you, you should check out a kick-started comic called Tales of Time by Tyler K. Bray)
Happy reading!
