Borealis #1 Review

 

Writers: Mark Verheiden & Aaron Douglas

Artist: Cliff Richards

Colorist: Guy Major

Letterer: Jim Campbell

Cover Artist: Cliff Richards

Publisher: Dark Horse

Price: $3.99

Release Date: December 20, 2023

 

Alaska State Trooper Silaluk Osha works in Anchorage, Alaska. As the daughter of a white man and an Inuit woman, some regard her with disdain. Can her Tanaiyaak or mixed-racial heritage help her survive a drug bust gone wrong? Let's leap into Borealis #1 and find out!

 

Story

Silaluk (aka Sil) was eight years old when her grandmother and mother saw the Taqriaqsuit. Her grandmother’s status as the local shaman helped Old Mother process the event. Sil's mother wasn't so lucky. Seeing the luminous spirits drove the woman to drug addiction.

 

The Taqriaqsuit gave Sil and her mother a gift. At times, a strange power inhabits both. This power, which her mother called the Piinilaak, assists Sil when the dealer attacks her in Anchorage. It helps her fight past the drugs she's ingested and apprehend the murderous dealer. Yet the spirits can't help Sil avoid the fallout from how she closes the case.

 

While Prohibition ended long ago in the United States, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in Alaska still allows communities to ban alcohol. Mark Verheiden & Aaron Douglas portray the opportunities this creates in Borealis #1. Sil's captain sends her home to assist local police in a gang war. Sil must combat a local smuggler and face her history of drug addiction. But worse is seeing her mother slipping away in a coma.

 

Art

Cliff Richards' lifelike characters hurtle through scenes like Sil's favorite big-screen action hero. Actions, poise, and expressions convey emotion. Sil's haunted past left her face a mask. Equally dour is Old Mother, who would as soon flip a bird as flash a smile. Aside from J.J., the police chief's son, few exhibit happiness in Sil's hard-bitten hometown. But then, the town displays few benefits from all the money that has passed through it from nearby oil drilling.

 

The sun hangs low in the sky in Borealis #1. Communities like Anchorage and Qinu benefit from Guy Major's limited coloring. Interiors seem dimly lit, as if the outside world hoards the few hours of each winter day. Gray, tan, beige, mustard, and fern green contrast with the blood Sil spills in pursuit of her job. Yet the dark colors cannot suck the green glow from her eyes when the Piinilaak overtakes her.

 

Aside from a couple of footnote-like balloons, large black letters haunt white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes in Borealis #1. They may not help you initially understand how an exciting early scene relates to contemporary events. Still, Jim Campbell’s sound effects ensure you hear every gunshot, breaking timber, impaled body, and beeping alert from hospital monitors.

 

Final Thoughts

Drugs ensnare Alaska's light-deprived citizens, and corporate corruption threatens the future of small communities as a narcotics officer confronts her sordid, supernatural past in Borealis #1.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

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