Nameless #4

By Grant Morrison, Chris Burnham, Nathan Fairbairn

“We’re on Xibalba. Heading straight for planet earth at fifty thousand miles an hour. You and me. We’re humanity’s last hope.”

A massive asteroid approaches earth, but is it actually something else? A giant space prison? A luxurious resort? Probably not the second one…

Writer Grant Morrison takes you on a crazy ride between reality and a dream-like state constantly bustling you back and forth between the two until you question reality yourself. Are you really sitting at your desk right now reading this? Or are you in a spaceship being chased by parasites controlling your friends? Hmm? It’s like the Matrix on acid… and mushrooms… possibly some Redbull.

Morrison scripts an adventure unlike any you’ve seen before (unless you have, which in that case please share because we’d all like to read that one too) as a man seemingly without a name, even though he’s named Nameless, tries to help out a crew that’s in way over their heads — an asteroid heading towards earth is just not enough for Morrison apparently. Nameless knows something bigger is at play, which we see as he insists on symbols being drawn onto everyone’s space suits, we see repercussions when one crew member unwittingly wipes the symbol from his helmet… bad move.

The artist on this series is Chris Burnham and he goes into some crazy detail with his scenes, making sure to emphasize on the grotesque nature of the parasites and what they can do to humans. His art style is reminiscent of Ian Bertram (been obsessed with his art since Batman Eternal #11…)  as he’ll go into gory detail when it comes to facial expressions and setting. A panel showcasing one of the people being controlled by a parasite at a control desk shows just how crazy Burnham can get with his pencils. The man in the image leans over the panel as blood drips from his beard, the large parasite can be seen on his back digging into his vertebrae, a sinister look on the character’s face shows you just how far gone he really is. This whole image is made all the more menacing by colorist Nathan Fairbairn as he covers the page in red more and more as the image gets closer each panel until we’re staring at the character’s rancid blood soaked teeth (you’re going to need some Crest 3D WhiteStrips for those bad boys).

Nameless #4 takes you into the void once again, then spits you out, puts you back in, turns you upside down, and then asks how you’ve been.