Hannah is seven, and it is Christmas time. She has her father to herself, but strange things keep happening around her. What is going on? Find out in Antarctica #6 from Image Comics!
ANTARCTICA #6
Writer: Simon Birks
Artist: Willi Roberts
Letterer: Lyndon White
Editor: Elena Salcedo
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 13, 2023
Previously in Antarctica: Hannah Curtis got a job at a research station in Antarctica, the station her father disappeared from. Shortly after she arrives, another version of the base, including another version of herself, materializes. Dr. Curtis’ world is dying, and she is hoping to open a portal to Hannah’s earth. Then, a third version of the base, from yet another version of the world, also appears!
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
Antarctica #6 opens in the past with a much younger Hannah watching television. Eve has a bag packed. Their grandparents arrive to pick Eve up, so she can stay with them for a week. It is Christmas time, and Hannah is going to be staying home with her father. Even at seven, Hannah is skeptical. Why isn’t she going with Eve? Why hasn’t she seen many presents?
The next morning Hannah is up early playing in her room. Her father opens the door and wishes her a Merry Christmas. He got her a new watch; she has figured out how it works. She tells him her door was locked when she got up. He says her door has no lock.
They have breakfast and will open more presents after lunch. He needs to go out for a while, and he suggests that she watch a movie. She looks for the one she had been watching the night before, but it isn’t there. She must settle for something else.
Curtis leaves home and arrives at what looks like the research station although, if it is in Antarctica, this is quite a feat. Dr. Gohel greets him. There have been no issues so far, she says.
Hannah, instead of watching her movie, is looking out the window. A bird flies in, catches a worm, and vanishes. She seems to expect this, as though she has been observing. While she is doing that, Dr. Gohel and Captain Williams observe her. Hannah figures out that the window is another television screen. If this is her house, she reasons, her penguin toy should be where she left him. He is not there. She does not feel like she is in the right place.
At the station, Curtis hears that the other Hannah has come through the fracture. He wants to check on her, but Williams orders him to return home. He returns home and Hannah is in her room playing. He picks out some clothes for her to put on even though they are not going out. Hannah looks out the window, sees a bird, and checks her watch. Meanwhile, on the station, the other Hannah looks as though she is on some kind of life support.
This is a fascinating departure from the story so far. We thought, as Hannah did, that everything started at the point where her father disappeared. But we learned that he had some connection to the other world, and now we discover that whatever has been happening in Antarctica has been ongoing for much longer than we suspected.
THE OBSERVANT SKEPTIC
The art of Antarctica #6 shows us a delightful young Hannah, the girl before her life was turned upside down and her resentment grew. This Hannah is not entirely trusting. She worries about why her grandparents do not want to spend time with her. She has some underlying skepticism which she hides, along with her uncertainties, beneath a youthful nonchalance. Her dad reassures her, but she is not entirely certain. When she sees things that don’t seem quite right, she is not afraid to ask about them, but she does not press for answers when she is gaslit. She continues to observe, and when she finds anomalies, she remembers them and keeps them to herself.
Curtis goes to the research station, but it looks like the station that Dr. Curtis is from. Perhaps Curtis has a way to travel there – or perhaps Hannah has indeed been moved. I like the juxtaposition of Dr. Gohel observing Hannah even while Hannah is observing her own surroundings. She finds too many inconsistencies. Even though Hannah’s house looks faultlessly similar, it is as though they have focused on the wrong details.
BOTTOM LINE: SECRETS AND MYSTERIES
Antarctica #6 opens a new arc with the exciting premise that the plot has been going on for much longer than expected. What new mysteries are there to discover?
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Antarctica #6
Journey into Hannah’s past, where we discover that her life was full of mystery even when she was only seven.
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By day, she’s a mild-mannered bureaucrat and Ms. Know-It-All. By night, she’s a dance teacher and RPG player (although admittedly not on the same nights). On the weekends, she may be found judging Magic, playing Guild Wars 2 (badly), or following other creative pursuits. Holy Lack of Copious Free Time, Batman! While she’s always wished she had teleportation as her superpower, she suspects that super-speed would be much more practical because then she’d have time to finish up those steampunk costumes she’s also working on.