Sometimes in life we feel as if we we’ve been dealt a bad hand. Even if your life turns out great and you are doing well there are things in the past that haunt you. What if you had a chance to go back in time and set things right? What if you were armed with the knowledge of what would happen? Would you have the strength to do what must be done? This is the question raised in Echoes a new graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics.
Echoes centers around Fred Martin who at a young age watched his mother beaten to death by her boyfriend. While Fred had gone on to own his own business and do well for himself he is haunted by his past. Running a small plane charter service out of Seattle, Fred has a charter to take to a small island. During a massive electrical storm his plane is hit and the next thing he knows he wakes up in a hospital bed. Fred has been told he has been in a coma for a few days following a plane crash. But things are not all as they seem as he is interrogated by the FBI and they find equipment they never saw in the crash and dates that haven’t existed yet.
Fred Martin has travelled back to 1986.
What happens throughout the book is a gripping tale that had me reading it over and over as Echoes is one of the best books this year. I am not going to spoil another bit of the book as you need to track it down and read this amazing tale. Mike Richardson who founded Dark Horse pens the tale and it is a brilliant piece of work. Along with this he has written and created such great titles as The Mask, Timecop and 47 Ronin. The book is beautifully illustrated by Gabriel Guzman, who has not only illustrated some great stories such as Lady Death and Cable, but has worked with Richardson before! The great series Father’s Day was done by these two and is also worth checking out.
Normally I don’t hand out high rankings for comics unless they have a great story to tell and this is indeed a great story. You need to go to your local store and give this book a read as it is an experience not to be missed. If I could give this book more than five stars I would as it is truly deserving of that ranking. For more information on this and other books head over to www.darkhorse.com and get ready to face some hard choices.
