Hexagon Bridge #1 Review

 

Writer, Artist, Colorist, Letterer & Cover Artist: Richard Blake

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: September 20, 2023

 

A cartographer treks through the snow, searching for her companion. Exposure and exhaustion overwhelm her. Will she die or find her friend? Let’s leap into Hexagon Bridge #1 and find out!

 

Story

In 4040, researchers discovered a doorway to a parallel dimension. Yet travel through this "bridge" proves perilous. Elena nearly dies, and her husband's fate is uncertain. How much of what they perceive is real? And how much is conjured from their minds?

 

At the Hexagon 12 research facility, young Adley dreams of her parents. Her grandfather believes their captors are machines: Artificial Intelligence that can navigate paths through uncharted space. An A.I. project currently under development could help rescue the cartographers. But can an A. I. designed by Humans succeed where Elena and Jacob failed?

 

We don’t learn much about the people who work at the research post in Alaska’s Tongass Forest or how Adley’s visions pierce dimensional space in Hexagon Bridge #1. But the girl's concern for her parents seems ample reason to peer through the uncharted future toward the next issue.

 

Art

Snow falls upon barren trees. An orange glow beckons. When it disappears, Elena collapses. Orange lights rise from the snow and dance before her eyes. Other colored shards envelop her, and the scenery dissipates.

 

The orange cloud carries her to an unfinished structure in space. Elegance surrounds her as a cyborg serves her coffee in Hexagon Bridge #1. Like the neoclassical bedroom Dr. Dave Bowman inhabits in 2001: A Space Odyssey, how much of it is real?

 

Fractal images make up this strange dimension. Yet similarly unconnected shapes make up structures at Hexagon 12. Illuminated rectangular buildings sit next to cabins in the woods. Large interiors dwarf their inhabitants, and interior design shows reverence for the past of varied cultures amid modernism and technological advancement. Muted colors diminish people amid gray and beige further, suggesting that all is not well two millennia from now.

 

Small uppercase dialogue inhabits rectangular white dialogue boxes. Inflection emboldens speech, and no sound effects intrude upon the contemplative Hexagon Bridge #1.

 

Final Thoughts

A previously unexplored realm awaits researchers. But is it safe for humans, or only inhabitable by artificial intelligence? Science and the Paranormal merge in the intriguing Hexagon Bridge #1.

 

Rating 8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.