Oblivion Song (Image Comics) – Comic Series Review

In a story that covers a lot of ground and multiple years, Oblivion Song beings deep in the heart of the action, as Nathan Cole looks to rescue anyone he can from “Oblivion,” an apocalyptic alien landscape. About a decade prior to this opening, Philadelphia experienced a “transference” event, in which the citizens of a good chunk of the city were caught up in an energy storm which placed them into another dimension, later named Oblivion. But, not only that, the alien creatures of Oblivion and a strange “growth” substance made its way into our dimension, overtaking Philadelphia’s crumbled streets and buildings with monsters and a new architecture of aggressive plant-like life. While this growth does not post a threat to humans and even subsides, the alien beings are fierce and wild.

With around 300,000 people all of a sudden missing, and new alien threats taking over the city, life is thrown into disarray in the area. What was this event? What caused it? How many species of aliens are really out there? What is the growth that tries to take over, and has already absorbed most of Oblivion itself? And… most importantly, what is Oblivion, the other dimension that this all came from?

As the humans advance in technology, they are able to slip into Oblivion and back to our plane of existence, allowing men like Nathan Hale to search for survivors and bring them back. People saved from Oblivion sometimes have a challenge reacclimating to our world and culture, which mostly tried to move on and go back to normal, as much as possible. Depending on how long one has been surviving in the Oblivion world, coming back to coffee, traffic, work and relationships can be jarring.

Nathan himself is driven by the disappearance of his brother, who was lost in the event years ago, but so far, he has had no luck, and acknowledges that it is most likely that he died. When he goes to the world of Oblivion, he learns more and more about how to survive, how the alien beings interact with each other, and tricks of transference technology.

The secrets of the aliens, the world, the transference event and even Nathan are quite interesting, and the exciting setup is only the tip of the iceberg. The story evolves constantly, bringing in new ideas, information and threats relatively non-stop. The characters are well fleshed out, and behave realistically, all things considered.

There is a ton of action and excitement, but it does not dilute the importance of the core story whatsoever. As larger reveals happen, it only heightens the understanding and characters’ need to continue their paths. The story arcs are all well-paced and allow the characters to advance naturally in behavior, knowledge and goals.

Despite the crazy Sci-Fi nature of the story, plenty of humanity is retained in the writing. The thrilling action and intriguing mysteries move the plot along quickly, and there are lots of cool ideas which are all explored fairly well. Give this a shot if you are into fun Sci-Fi and action stories.