A handful of people were out of town the night Oshawa, Ontario disappeared into an enormous sinkhole. Was this just a freak natural disaster? Find out in The Displaced #1 from BOOM! Studios.

THE DISPLACED #1

Writer: Ed Brisson
Artist: Luca Casalanguida
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Editor: Elizabeth Brei
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: February 14, 2024

Previously in The Displaced: What if an entire town could vanish overnight and then no one remembered that it happened? It has happened before, and it is going to happen again…

THE NIGHT EVERYTHING CHANGED

The Displaced #1 opens in Oshawa, Ontario. Late at night, an old man cuts his way in to where school buses are kept, hot wires one, and drives it out crashing through the fence. We learn later that this is Harold.

In nearby Ajax, as Emmett and his friend drink a few beers, they try to remember the name of a kid they knew in high school. They see him across the bar. While they remember that he was bullied, they don’t remember his name. They ask the waitress if she knows his name. She thinks it’s Jeffrey. That doesn’t sound right to the men. The waitress admits they just started calling him that because people thought he looked like Jeffrey Dahmer.

In Oshawa, Gabby and her husband Keith wake up when their baby cries. They are new parents, and this is an adjustment. Gabby’s husband goes to check on their little girl, then comes back to say she needs a change. And he forgot to get diapers. Gabby decides to go get them.

Emmett leaves the bar and gets a call from his father’s care facility. He dreads hearing another complaint about his father’s behavior. Instead, he learns that his dad had a stroke and is in the hospital.

Gabby buys diapers and a pack of cigarettes. She had given up smoking. Now it is a moment of relief. A young man asks to bum a smoke and she gives him the whole pack. She picks up the diapers and heads for her cars when there is an earthquake.

Harold blocks the road to Oshawa with the bus, splashes gasoline all over it, and lights it on fire. Emmet drives up and screeches to a stop. He asks if Harold needs any help and offers to call 911. Harold insists that no one ever listens, and they need to save as many as possible. Harold also grabs his phone.

Gabby calls Keith and asks if he also felt the earthquake. He asks where she is, and then tells her to stay there. His voice sounds panicked and distracted. Then it cuts out entirely and the call disconnects. Gabby crashes into Emmet’s car. They barely have time to talk before Harold warns everyone to get back. There is another rumble. A sinkhole opens up. The bus and several cars fall in. Harold stands on the edge looking into the hole. Oshawa was taken, he says, he was too late.

The next day, this is all over the news. Oshawa was a town of almost 200,000 people. Rescue crews were attempting to venture into the sinkhole to look for survivors, but the depth is immense. Those who survived are gathered in a makeshift triage center. The authorities try to organize people and obtain their information so they can help connect them with their loved ones once they are rescued. Harold tries to talk Emmett into leaving. He knows what is going on, he says. It has happened before. He names three cities and three years. Emmet has never heard of them.

But that is the point, Harold exclaims. No one remembers. And all the survivors will die because of it.

The next day Gabby meets with a friend. Keith’s parents had been calling her constantly, trying to figure out what happened, but also blaming her somehow for not being there with her husband and daughter. She finally braced herself to call them, but now they’re acting like they don’t know her, or their own son, or their granddaughter.

The young people who got Gabby’s cigarettes are not staying at the triage center. Paige, the girl, shows the boy her phone. Oshawa is the subject of a lot of memes about how Oshawa didn’t matter. The irony is that that is why the two of them were leaving Oshawa.

There is another earthquake. Emmett notices it in the bar where he is drinking with his friend. Paige’s phone stops working. Gabby and Harold notice it as well. Within minutes, the group of them are all back where the met, where the sinkhole opened. But now the sinkhole is completely gone.

PAIN AND DESPERATION

The art of The Displaced #1 is loose and expressive. There is good attention placed on detail and establishing shots. At the open, a lot of things happen at the same time but in different places, and we can clearly understand that. We don’t know Harold or anything about him at first, but he is there at the beginning. He brought bolt cutters for stealing the bus, and we see him getting the bus started and his joy in remembering how to do it. When he crashes through the fence, we are drawn in because of wondering why he did this. If he just wanted a vehicle, there are plenty of less noticeable options.

The art also captures the drudgery of everyday life in a small city. Everyone we meet has something difficult in their lives, something they hate or at least wish they could get away from even while they know that they really cannot avoid the responsibilities. After the sinkhole takes their town, we also start to see their guilt. They wanted things to be different. Gabby is worn out from the exhaustion of new motherhood. Emmett wants to make something of his life but is also tied down by family. Paige and her boyfriend just want to get away to somewhere new. Now this has happened, but with enormous and unexpected ramifications.

BOTTOM LINE: ORIGINAL AND INTRIGUING

There is a huge mystery at the heart of The Displaced #1, and I am here for it. I like the way the premise was set up and am looking forward to an exploration of some of the possible consequences.

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The Displaced #1

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When Oshawa, Ontario ceases to exist, the lives of the survivors will change forever.

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