5 out of 5

While you could criticize Halogen for dancing around what essentially boils down to a very simple concept that’s been explored elsewhere – other stories, various settings – that would be to completely ignore how excellently Halogen tells its tale.  And besides: since we’ve heard it all before, if anything can manage to bring you to its final pages or final minutes and you feel fully rewarded by the time you arrive, that simplicity isn’t a mark against it but a badge of quality: you’ve found a new way to tell an old story.

In Halogen, the tale is one of self-discovery.  But it’s funneled through such amazing world-building and perfectly designed story snapshots that, even once the aim of the tale becomes fairly apparent (about the third issue), you’re excited to read more; experience more.  Experience because this is just as much artist Afu Chan and colorist Shelly Chen’s world as it is Tierney’s; a future, a colony, warring companies, done up in a wonderful freehand style that allows for plenty of motion and space for the warm colors to shine.  Chan letters as well, his balloons uniquely angled around bold text that makes the dialogue feel very present as we learn more about a new discovery of a piece of a God… and the debate over whether or not the sentience of this piece makes it something more than just a something.  Is it to be worshiped?  Is it to be destroyed?  Our lead, Rell – whose hologram projecting suit, somehow bonded with her, projects a halo permanently above her head (and it should give the book five stars immediately that Tierney manages this cute detail without it ever once feeling hackneyed or obnoxious) – grapples with the same questions.  But fear not: it’s not a series of endless talking heads debating theory; Tierney keeps the action going via the various Hopefuls attempting to attain the piece, touching upon his themes in the exchanges Rell might have with them as she bats them away from their prize.

The ‘trick’ is how you’re settling into the world, thinking you’re reading a sci-fi adventure, when the curtain pulls back on the story that’s actually been bubbling up.  And because Josh has made his world and characters as real as possible within the context of his comic, the reveal is worthwhile, and only adds to the richness of things.

Anyhow, read it, and don’t mind me while I spend some more money on Josh’s other books.