20th Century Men #1
- Writer
- Deniz Camp
- Artist
- S. Morian
- Letterer
- Aditya Bidikar
- Cover Artist
- S. Morian
- Publisher
- Image Comics
- Price
- $3.99
- Release Date
- 2022-08-17
- Colorist
- S. Morian
Comics and Science Fiction have produced countless alternative histories of the world. By examining variations of familiar histories, creators can critique the present, challenge the audience’s assumptions, and craft surprising stories. In August, writer Deniz Camp, artist S. Morian, and letterer Aditya Bidikar will be presenting their warped history of the world in Image Comics’ 20th Century Men #1, the first in a 6-issue miniseries that will give readers plenty to think about.
20th Century Men #1 throws readers head first into a complex world of super-soldiers, politicians, and mad scientists. Taking place all over the world and throughout much of the 20th Century, this first issue establishes an alternative history of a world shaped by armor-clad soldiers and power-mad presidents. The action begins in Viet Nam in 1969 when a group of soldiers encounters unimaginable carnage. Then the focus shifts toward an aging soviet super-soldier on a diplomatic mission to Kabul in 1987. Meanwhile, the president of the United States — a former super-soldier himself — hatches a mysterious plan to reinforce America’s military supremacy, and the fate of the world may hang in the balance.
Camp does an incredible job introducing readers to the world of 20th Century Men in the first issue. He effortlessly introduces multiple plot threads, a volatile political landscape, and a cast of complex characters while maintaining the reader’s attention. Each scene gives the reader a broader sense of the world, allowing them to cobble together a fairly cohesive understanding of the big picture by the end of the issue. But Camp seems comfortable with a certain degree of ambiguity. He allows plenty of questions to go unanswered to create a sense of mystery and to give his characters a chance to speak for themselves.
The soviet super-soldier Petar Fedorovich Platonov’s narration is particularly well written. Camp’s writing gives his character a distinct voice and captures a cynical but poetic worldview that adds weight and beauty to the proceedings. His beautiful, prosaic narration contrasts with the blunt, brutal way most of the characters speak. This aesthetic dissonance mirrors the conflict between the spirit of invention and the consequences of violence that lies at the center of 20th Century Men #1.
Morian’s art is as impressive as Camp’s writing. He captures the spirit and tone of several different eras and landscapes while developing a style that carries on throughout the entire comic. His dynamic page layouts and outlandish character designs feel expressive and completely unrestrained. But even at his most stylized, his art serves the narrative with almost disturbing clarity. His use of color and texture to establish physical and emotional atmospheres allows him to experiment with the overall composition of the page without leaving the audience behind. Each individual panel stands alone as a piece of art and as an important element of the story.
20th Century Men #1 is as beautiful as it is complex. Camp and Morian have created a fascinating, dense first issue that manages to be simultaneously accessible and overwhelming. Over the years, fans have seen innumerable alternate histories of the world featuring super-powered soldiers, but 20th Century Men feels like a genuinely novel approach to the familiar source material.