Falling Skies is a new series premiering this month on TNT, Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg, and starring Noah Wylie, Moon Bloodgood, and Will Patton. Taking place in the weeks immediately following a devastating Alien invasion, the series follows Professor Tom Mason, a Boston History Teacher, as he unwittingly becomes a key figure to the burgeoning resistance force. Tom’s Son has been taken by the Aliens (or “Skitters”, as the strangely Spider-like beings are called), and his efforts to reunite his Family, as well as keep the remaining members alive, are what drives the series. The Skitters are backed up by formidable robots (called Mechs”) who prowl the streets killing anyone who looks dangerous or puts up any kind of fight. The Skitters are also rounding up children, for some as-yet-unrevealed purpose. The story seems promising, and the Graphic Novel, by Writer Paul Tobin and Artist Juan Ferreyra, did it’s job well: It made me interested in watching the series when it debuts on June 19th. Tobin introduces the characters and the frightening new world they inhabit, and Ferreyra masterfully captures the Actor’s likenesses.
The main question that the Graphic Novel raises, and doesn’t answer is: Is it a prequel to the series, or a straight adaptation of the two-hour pilot episode? With no knowledge of what the first episode of the series will bring, I’m leaning towards saying that this is an adaptation……It introduces all of the main characters, sets up their motivations and fleshes out the locales the series will take place in. As such, it’s not a bad read, but ultimately, it’s probably an unnecessary one, especially since Dark Horse and TNT both have the bulk of the book available as a free webcomic on their respective websites. (I suspect it’s being serialized, and new chapters will be released every few days, so the whole book should be available, free of charge, online by the time this review is posted.) Falling Skies is a decent read, but if they’re offering it for free, I can’t see anyone but the most die-hard collectors wanting to actually pay for a hard copy.
- The Scarlet Gospels - March 9, 2015
- Inspector of the Dead - February 23, 2015
- The Boneyard - February 23, 2015
- The Deep - February 2, 2015
- Pumpkin Cinema: The Best Movies For Halloween - November 20, 2014
- The Wake - November 20, 2014
- Dark Screams, Volume One - November 20, 2014
- Horror Library, Volume 5 - September 16, 2014
- Ghost Heart - September 16, 2014
- Monster & Madman - August 6, 2014
