REVIEW: ‘Eve,’ Issue #1

Eve #1 is the start of a brand new limited series written by Victor LaValle, illustrated by Jo Mi-Gyeong, colored by Brittany Peer, lettered by AndWorld Design, and published by BOOM! Studios. Eve is an adventurous kid who lives a secluded life with her scientist dad. Until she wakes up one day alone, in a mostly strange place, her dad is gone, the world is devastated by climate change, and it’s up to Eve and an android facsimile of her teddy bear Wexler to save the world.

Allow me to start with: I loved this issue. I can’t really put it much better than LaVelle puts it himself at the end of this issue. The climate crisis is real, terrifying, and simply even worse for Black and Brown folks and their communities. The terrors of a changing and degrading climate have been a hallmark of fiction forever, but this is one of the most harrowing depictions I feel like I have read. The stark contrast between a beautiful and vibrant world and a suddenly dead and flooded Manhattan is gut-wrenching because, in earnest, that could be us in the same blink of an eye.

The confusion and initial overwhelming state Eve is in when she first wakes up feels like how so much of the world feels right now: accepting of reality but disoriented and paralyzed. Her resolve by the issue’s end, however, is precisely the type of inspiration that we need to break the paralysis and save this planet. Because as LaVelle says, we know the kids didn’t ask for this mess, but yet, if anybody is going to save us, it’s going to be them.

The plot, admittedly, is a tad hard to follow. I had to reread the transition from the not-present to the present several times to get a grasp of it, and I’m still not certain I fully get it. But, neither am I certain that I’m meant to, and the aforementioned shock and awe renders my confusion pretty much moot. All I need to know is that this world is totally bunk; something concerning is going on with Eve’s father, I’m very inspired by and behind her as a protagonist, and I’m very excited to see what kind of chaos Wexler brings to the table.

The art is very character-focused. Most panels are closeups of characters with little background or contextual imagery around them. On the one hand, this makes for great character study. Wexler’s design is intriguing, and I very much wonder what kind of tools or weapons his mechanical body holds. And while I can’t say Eve strikes me as 11, she looks a few years older, she’s certainly a kid nonetheless, and I’m more than ready to go on this adventure with her.

The lack of background or context just made it a bit hard to get a sense of where they were from panel to panel and what the difference is between the first and second half of the book before Eve wakes up. Was she put into a sort of sleep for a few decades, or was she never awake in the first half at all? The visuals and the text clashed on this subject a bit too much for me to be completely sure. But again, I can completely ignore my confusion because the plot itself and the characters introduced have me totally hooked regardless. Additionally, there is a lot of back and forth conversation on the page, and the lettering does a good job making sure nothing is ever cluttered, and the sequence of speakers is clear.

I am very hooked on Eve #1. It feels like both a stark vision of a possible near-future and a deep character piece in the making. I’m more than looking forward to the series and already hoping it lasts longer than its initial 5-issue run.

Eve #1 is available wherever comics are sold.