The Field #1

By Ed Brisson, Simon Roy & Simon Gough

Reading the first issue of The Field leaves you with a strong “what is going on?” vibe. Now there are two different kinds of this confusion you find in some stories. One is hard to follow and in the process loses both the momentum of the plot and the attention of the reader. The second example can have a plot that might not be fleshed out right away, but by having both a great premise and interesting characters that you enjoy, it makes the reader invested into the series and their curiosity alone drives them to read more. This first issue of The Field is very much an example of the second type. Even though you’re not quite sure what is going on by the end of the issue, you’ll be very intrigued to read about what happens next and to know exactly what is going on.

This series begins with a man waking up in a gigantic field who seems to be suffering from amnesia and he’s also wearing nothing but his tighty-whitey undies. Now, I know we’ve all been in similar situations after a wild night of drinking, but there appears to be a lot more than just alcohol behind the un-named man’s current predicament. He also finds cell phone that he can’t access since he doesn’t know the unlock code, but can see the text message warnings that seem to tell him what to do before it happens. Brisson does a great job of making this first issue of The Field work incredibly well by keeping the reader in the dark, much like the amnesiac main character. Even though it’s not quite clear what exactly is happening to this lost and partially naked man, the vague setup is interesting enough to hook a reader’s curiosity to want to learn more about whom this man is and what exactly has he gotten himself into.

When plotting out a comic story that may be considered confusing, having the right artist helps make a seemingly puzzling story read smoothly and keeps readers’ attention. Here we see Simon Roy, who many may know from his great work with Brandon Graham on the new Prophet series, and how much of a capable and versatile artist he truly is. The Field is a modern rural mystery which you could say is the polar opposite of anything he’s done with Prophet. It seems it would be harder to artistically tell a more realistic story with a modern setting than a sci-fi story filled with aliens and monster that you can let your imagination run wild with. Even though creatures and robots are cool to look at and design, when you have a more grounded story The Field, you have to make sure that the art enhances the reading experience by making the issue flow smoothly. This first issue of The Field helps solidify Roy’s distinctive style of art and also proves that he is more than capable of working on any genre of comic.

The first issue of The Field has proved to be an interesting start that still has plenty of questions and answers yet to be revealed. Since it’s hard to judge a vague series like The Field based on just one issue, let’s just address the impression it left on readers. This was easy to read in one sitting but it wasn’t because of a lack of content but because these two creators working together were able to reflect this intriguing concept onto the page of the comic. Because of this, by the time you finish reading this first issue, you immediately want to read what happens next and that’s honestly the best outcome you can get from any comic series debut.