Do you have a choice over how your life is going to play out or is it all one big program that has set you on a specific path? What if it’s both? Your Major Spoilers review of Beyond Real #1 from Vault Comics, awaits!
BEYOND REAL #1
Writer: Zack Kaplan
Artists: Fabiana Mascolo and Toni Fejzula
Colorists: Jordie Bellaire and Toni Fejzula
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Vault Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: December 13th, 2023
Previously in Beyond Real: When struggling artist June is injured in a severe car accident that leaves her boyfriend in a coma, she begins to experience strange visual phenomena.
WILL YOU GRANT REPAIR?
Beyond Real #1 opens with June and her boyfriend Eli lying on the roof of her car. They discuss the nature of the universe and whether anyone has any say in what they do if it’s all a big simulation and they’ve all been programmed to follow a path. Later on, they’re driving away and have a little bit of a spat about whether June’s artwork is ready to be submitted yet or not, when they’re suddenly t-boned by a large truck. Things then jump to an operating room where June struggles to hang on. Later she awakens to discover she has survived and recovered from the wreck, but Eli has fallen into a coma. In the following days, she tries to get back to her life but finds that things aren’t quite right. She can hear people’s thoughts, she can phase through solid objects, and she can cause people to think they’re in an earthquake. She attempts to find answers to this from doctors, therapists, and spiritual advisors, but no one can give her a good answer. She eventually finds herself by Eli’s bed and in a fit of frustration breaks through what seems like the wall of reality. A hologram of sorts appears and says that her code has been corrupted in a way that allows her to affect other program’s code and asks if she’ll let it fix her. She declines and instead heads out through the breach in reality in search of something that can fix Eli.
QUICK MOVING BUT EMOTIONALLY FLAT
Beyond Real #1 knows where it wants June to be at the end and doesn’t waste any time getting her there, even if that means it has to jam a lot of stuff in to do it. Now, while this does lead to a few clunky bits of dialog where one character has to speak a little unnaturally in order to slip in some backstory, the pace of how everything plays out feels appropriate for this issue. There is plenty of time given to her experiencing all of the weirdness in reality, there’s a decent amount of time given to establishing June and Eli’s relationship, and there’s even a decent amount of time given to the ending, which could’ve easily been just a cliffhanger. This makes for a good story with interesting stuff going on. Unfortunately, June, the main character the reader interacts with, comes off as a bit unemotional through it all. This could be a result of the art, but throughout the issue, it definitely comes off as if June is just coasting through it, rather than engaging with the emotional moments. This flatness in emotion makes the decision that June makes at the end of this issue come off as unearned. But, where the character work falters, the tone picks up the slack. It’s always an achievement when a story can make the reader unsure of what’s happening, not by being purposely manipulative, but by establishing a world where the very nature of reality is in question, and in that regard, this issue is great.
A SOLID BLENDING OF STYLES
As mentioned above, there is a distinct lack of expression going on in this issue, which leads to the main character coming off as a bit emotionless. But that’s not to say that what is there isn’t wonderfully drawn. For the few different expressions, we do get out of June, they’re all very nice. What really stuck out to me though was the mixture of styles between the scenes that take place in the “real world” and when the glitches start appearing. When things are normal the colors are matte and the linework looks as if it could’ve been done with pen and paper. Yet, when the glitches come in, they arrive with a lot of light bloom and other bits of flare that come off as being obviously digital. It’s just a nice touch that adds to the feeling of there being two different existences at play here.
BOTTOM LINE: IT’LL BE INTERESTING TO SEE WHERE THIS GOES
Beyond Real #1 ends with the series already at a crossroads. This first issue does a good job introducing the main character and the stakes. It also does a good job planting seeds of doubt about just how much of what’s happening is actually happening. So going forward it’ll be interesting to see if it takes a more straightforward path based on the quest June has set out on, or if it will lean more into the whole questioning of reality thing. For my money though, this issue is a fine read on its own, even if it didn’t have a strong emotional punch. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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Beyond Real #1
Beyond Real #1 does a good job setting up the series and establishing a universe that is mysterious on its own without needing silly plot twists. The main character is a little flat though and its unclear what kind of tone this will have going forward.
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Writing6
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Art8
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Coloring7
At a young age, Jonathan was dragged to a small town in Wisconsin. A small town in Wisconsin that just so happened to have a comic book shop. Faced with a decision to either spend the humid summers and bitter winters traipsing through the pine trees or in climate controlled comfort with tales of adventure, horror, and romance, he chose the latter. Jonathan can often be found playing video games, board games, reading comics and wincing as his “to watch” list grows wildly out of control.