Comic Book Review - Eden

Rob reviews ComiXology Original - Eden...

Eden marks the comic book debut for television producer Matthew Arnold. Whilst it occasionally reads like the pilot to a highly ambitious television show, Eden keeps you on your toes throughout. 

Much like a television drama, Eden throws you into its world from the get-go. The first chapter comes at quite a pace as a handful of prisoners are mysteriously released from their cryogenic slumber. As they escape the facility, the world is a far cry from the one they left behind. With the concrete jungle being replaced by a literal jungle, the group heads off in search of any signs of life. 

No sooner are we introduced to this strange world, than Arnold takes us back in time as he delves into the past of his protagonist; Senator Anna Croft. It's through this flashback that we learn of Croft's distrust of placing prisoners in cryogenic suspension, and of her ambitions as a Senator. Things take a darker turn as the Senator's child goes missing, and Croft and her husband are subsequently charged with his murder - an accusation that both vehemently protest. As such the duo are sentenced to be cryogenically frozen within the prison that Croft protested against.

Switching back to the present - or should that be the future? - the group discovers ab overgrown and deserted town. Upon searching the deserted buildings they discover a strange calendar as well as a footprint belonging to something large. It's from here where the majority of Eden's questions lie. Are we in the future or another reality? Where is everyone? 

Well...avoiding spoilers I won't say, however, the hook wasn't one that I saw coming! 

Anyway, as the narrative continues, the rest of the prisoners are mysteriously awakened and look towards Anna as their leader. But like any good television drama, Arnold gives us plenty of sub-plots and character mystery to carry us through Eden's 131-pages. 

As mentioned before, Eden reads like an HBO drama. The narrative comes at a quick pace with plenty of exposition coming from flashback scenes. There's a great sense of suspense with each chapter ending on a revelation or a cliffhanger, which works perfectly well in making the novel a wonderful page-turner. There's also a lot of foundation building within this issue too as Arnold hints towards the series' future if he wishes to expand. The overall concept of Eden has enough mechanics to it that you could certainly create something akin to 'Lost' or even 'Westworld' within its pages. 

Bringing Matthew Arnold's vision to life is artist Riccardo Burchielli. Burchielli brings a great mixture of bold line work, along with plenty of wide-angle and close-up shots. The scenes within the future setting give a great sense of alienness whilst retaining the feeling that we are still on planet Earth. The only downside is that the layout of certain scenes feels more like a concept storyboard rather than a graphic novel. While it's only a very minor issue, the thick black border lines break up the page's flow. 

All in all, Eden is an enjoyable graphic novel. The narrative is well structured and dynamic enough to keep you guessing up to its conclusion. The artwork is similarly well designed, with plenty of close-up character work and long-ranged scene-setting locations. My only criticism comes in the aforementioned scene layout, and that the novel could have done with a few extra pages. Matthew Arnold has done a brilliant job cramming everything into 131-pages, but with 20-30 extra pages he could have slowed some scenes down for a greater effect. 

Rating: 8.5/10 

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