Many people spend time thinking about how the world will end, and then there are those people who have to live through these catastrophic events day after day after day. This is the premise for Assorted Crisis Events #1, an anthology series whose opening chapter introduces readers to a woman doing her best to navigate all the chaos happening around her. I’ll admit the description of Assorted Crisis Events #1 sounded intriguing, but I still wasn’t prepared for how good it looked and how entertaining mixing divergent timelines could be. It’s not every day you can see a samurai warrior walking down the street next to a cyborg or caveman.
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Ashley is the name of our protagonist in Assorted Crisis Events #1. She lives in a neighborhood that is at the epicenter of crisscrossing timelines. Not only are worlds colliding outside her doorstep, but filmmakers are also trying to capitalize on the area by making their movies there. Why pay for special effects in your post-apocalyptic films when you can get them for free on a corner block? It does make sense, even if it’s definitely a little grimy and underhanded. Plus, people like Ashley can be used as extras and they don’t even have to pay them.
We follow Ashley as she attempts to get her broken clock fixed and go to work, but it’s the little things that stand out the most. If you’re not paying close attention you could miss many of the background characters who are lost in time. There’s also the beautiful flash of colors that pop off the page and help attract the readers’ eyes to important items, one of which is Ashley’s smartphone which gives her threat-level notifications. If you’re going to live in a warzone, it’s best to have an app that can let you know just how crazy things are before you head home.
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The color work really is the silent star in Assorted Crisis Events. For example, Ashley’s tan skin and wardrobe keep their colors, while everything in the background is given a slightly subdued color tone. It keeps the main focus on Ashley and the individuals she encounters, but offers just enough to not wash away the craziness happening around her. Ashley deserves credit for how she handles everything. You can tell she’s been living in this crazy for a good amount of time, yet she doesn’t let it get her down or affect her overall attitude… at least until Assorted Crisis Events #1’s final pages.
So yes, Ashley appears to have adapted to all the crisis events happening around her, but part of that is also knowing that her neighborhood has people trying to make movies there. Some of the events are “real” while others are fabricated. Not every alien or mutated freak comes is lost in time. This becomes a problem when the explosions and chaos turn out to be very real, and not movie magic. It all comes at the end of a very chaotic day, with the panels contorting and transitioning as timelines merge into a colorful symphony. I’ve enjoyed her story so much that I want to see it continue in the next issue, but the anthology nature of the series doesn’t make that likely.
But that’s the beauty of Assorted Crisis Events. Next time, we can see how someone else is dealing with these crises and if they’re on par with what Ashley experienced. Things can’t get any worse, right? This is probably something Ashley was telling herself too right before the proverbial sh*t hit the fan.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Published by Image Comics
On March 12, 2024
Written by Deniz Camp
Art by Eric Zawadzki
Colors by Jordie Bellaire
Letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
