Obscure
Comic of the Month is a column where I take a look at a comic or
series that hasn't really been talked about. This covers independent
comics, zines, weird spin-offs, webcomics and more.
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Prism
Stalker: Volume One by Sloane Leong - Image Comics 2018
Contains Mild Spoilers
Most of the
comics I tend to review here are independently published or from
minor, lesser known names. Every now and again, however, I end up
reviewing a comic from a major publisher. The kind of comic that,
despite having the weight of a heavy publishing house behind it,
never becomes known by the mainstream.
Prism
Stalker is one such comic. The collected edition broke onto the scene
in 2018, yet despite it's magnetically designed cover, embossed
silver foil and all, and accolades from many big comic websites and
writers, the series remained in obscurity. Indeed, when I picked it
up off the shelf, I had never heard of it, assuming it to be an
up-and coming-series that was brand new, not half a decade old.
The story
itself follows the character of Vep, a human from a tribal planet
that falls prey to ecological disaster. Rescued from catastrophe by a
confederation of alien races, Vep is expected in return to serve her
new masters as an indentured worker. A chance manifestation of
psychokinetic power sees her admitted into a military academy, and
trained to fight against a vague but ominous enemy.
If, from
that brief description, you have an idea in your head of what Prism
Stalker is going to be like then let me just stop you there and tell
you that you are wrong. Leong is not interested in presenting us with
a familiar sci-fi society like that of Star Trek or Mass Effect. The
worlds and characters we are introduced to here are truly, in the
exact definition of the word, alien.
Even before
her journey begins, Vep is part of a universe fundamentally
unrecognisable to our own. The various alien races she meets each
have their own unique biological functions, ideas of morality and
states of being. So too is the society she finds herself thrust in
to. This is not a familiar place. There are no beds, there are no
bathrooms, there are no bars or space TVs. Leong presents us with a
place that has no feet in the world we know, and so like us, so to
Vep, a strange and confusing one to navigate.
This is
what makes Prism Stalker so wonderful and unexpected. On every page,
around every corner, there is some new and out-there idea. Some weird
kind of alien, some baffling but fascinating type of culture. Despite
the difficulty of writing a coherent story with such a high concept,
Leong seamlessly moves things along at a swift pace, while at the
same time explaining even the most bizarre of ideas in a way the
reader can understand.
If that
wasn't enough, Leong also pulls artwork duties, rending each and
every part of this strange alien world with psychedelic visuals. As
with the writing, there is no interest here in depicting an easily
recognisable world, yet each place and location still follows a logic
that makes sense. We may not know exactly how everything works, but
we trust it all has a purpose.
There is
more to Prism Stalker than just the weird and wonderful. Leong was
motivated partly by her own background to tell a story about
indigenous culture and encroaching imperialism. Vep herself
represents a person between two worlds. She is not accepted by the
fellows of her own species because she never lived in that culture
long enough to complete her coming of age, yet at the same time the
alien species she has spent so much of her adult life alongside
remain, well, alien.
The story
itself brings up questions of freedom and servitude. Vep would indeed
be dead if it were not for the intervention of the alien collective,
yet upon being subsumed by it she is expected to give them absolute
deference. Indeed, while Vep's induction into the academy grants her
a greater degree of autonomy, she is also expected to commit to a
greater degree of sacrifice, all in the name of a civilisation she
has no love for to fight an enemy she has no real knowledge of.
Prism
Stalker uses the sci-fi genre to put you in the mindset of a free man
seeing the world enveloped by an empire. In Vep there is the Gaul
being claimed by the Romans, the Native American being moved onto the
reservation, the Aboriginal Australian being treated as a nuisance,
and so many more. The aliens themselves are not evil in any real
sense, indeed many of them are treated just as badly as Vep by their
superiors, all victims of imperialism's blind march of progress.
Prism
Stalker draws so many concepts from classic sci-fi, and remixes them
into something more current, something more vital. It's a comic that
makes us question how moral our own societies really are, and how
many are being ground up under it's boot-heel and expected to be
thankful.
Despite all
this, Prism Stalker has yet to break into the mainstream. Yet, it is
not too late, as a collected edition of it's second story arc is due
to be released this very year. I hope this review at the very least
encourages people to check it out, and I'd love to see the second
volume become a bigger hit, and finally bring the series to the
forefront.
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Jack
Harvey 2023. Prism Stalker is (c) Sloane Leong. Images used under
fair use.
