TITLE: NARCOPOLIS: CONTINUUM #1
PUBLISHER: Heavy Metal
WRITER: Scott Duvall
ILLUSTRATOR: Ralf Singh
COLORS: Nicolas Chapuis
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito
PROJECT MANAGER: Pippa Scott
EDITOR: Valerie D’Orazio
COVER: Ralf Singh & Nicolas Chapuis
PRICE: $3.50
RATING: 
WEBSITE: HeavyMetal.com
SUMMARY: Part 1 of 4 – In the near distant future, genius inventor Ben creates the ultimate drug. No ordinary narcotic, its effects will take Ben on a trip through time in an attempt to uncover the truth behind his father’s disappearance twenty years ago. In searching for answers, the past reveals its secrets that the young scientist won’t accept, even if it means risking everything he’s worked for. Based on the UK sci-fi thriller, Narcopolis: Continuum explores new corners of the world introduced in the hit movie.
COMMENTS: Narcopolis is exactly what it sounds like, a society based on Narcotics. Ben deals with the loss of his father and street dealers as Ambro, the legal narcotic is everywhere and part of everything. The question of time travel drives Ben to examine his own history. Now time travel is done in different ways in different comics. Flash runs on a treadmill. Superman traveled faster than the speed of light, Ben sticks a big ass needle in his eye. I’m not sure if time travel is worth sticking a needle in the eye.
This is a full-length comic, but getting to know the characters and understanding their universe draws you in and the comic feels incredibly short. When the end comes you really want more and can’t wait for the next issue.
You get the full cinematic feel in the comic, but you don’t need to have seen the movie to follow the comic. I did not see Narcopolis before reading the comic and Scott Duvall did a superior job with the story telling and I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by not seeing the movie first.
I have to point out that color in a comic is always a plus for me, and I usually don’t notice the coloring. It’s one of those things that if it is done well I don’t think about it, but if it is done poorly I really notice. In this case, Nicolas Chapuis did an outstanding job with the colors. While the background is almost exclusively blue, surprisingly everything everywhere is blue. When you get to the people there are a variety of light sources casting different shades in different angles. It is amazingly good. Ralf Singh art is very open and the line work has the same weight on every line, Nicolas Chapuis comes along and adds depth, light, and shadow to the art in a way usually done by inkers. The final result is very good and well suited to the sci-fi genre.
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