The Bunker-an awesome twisty, noir, time traveling apocalypse story

I read the first issue of The Bunker and didn’t review it.  In a way it was like the episode in Star Trek where they first meet the Borg or the let’s kill Hitler episode of Doctor Who.  It’s was so imaginative, creative, weird and yet so relatable that you almost wished you hadn’t seen it so that you could watch it for the first time again.  I wanted to wait until The Bunker #2 came out to review it, just to see if it could match the level of the first issue. 

To be clear, The Bunker is not as good as those two television examples.  What was great about those 2 examples is that they took a familiar situation; flipped it and did it so well that you couldn’t wait to see what’s next.  However, The Bunker is great and reading the second issue proves that the first one wasn’t a fluke.

The Bunker is the story of five friends who are out in the woods and discover an old, underground bunker.  They enter the bunker and discover messages that their future selves wrote to them about the end of civilization and the part that they all played in it.  Awesome premise isn’t it?  And the comic is illustrated in stark black and white that make the dramatic elements really pop out.

It’s here that I should point out that The Bunker is most definitely for adults.  The language is jam packed with spicy four letter words that young readers don’t need to discover yet.  Also the theme of the comic, the end of civilization, may be a bit too heavy for young readers.

The second issue of The Bunker takes an already downbeat topic-the apocalypse, mixes in child abuse-and still manages to make a comic that is enjoyable to read.

The title of the issue is No One Knows But Me and starts with Heidi reading a note from her future self.  It was a memory that only Heidi knew and was reading about it from herself in the future.  That note brings back memories, some present day conflict and a glimpse into her future where she has the chance for vengeance.

The Bunker is in black and white and drawn with manic purpose.  The shading in the comic reminds me of what I was trying to do back when I drew, but never could quite accomplish.  Don’t read the synopsis of The Bunker #2 and not read it because you think it’s a downer of a comic.  It’s not.  It certainly deals with heavy things, but the wonder, mystery and how it all happens manages to keep the reader moving instead of dwelling on the bad.

The Bunker is awesome, written by Joshua Hale Failkov and illustrated by Joe Infurnari.

 

We received a digital copy of The Bunker for review purposes from Comixology.  All thoughts are our own.  New comics are released every Wednesday and we encourage you to get your children reading early.  They’ll start with a 30 page comic book and be reading War and Peace, Atlas Shrugged or something else big and without pictures before you know it.