One of the most famous episodes of Black Mirror has taken on a new life as a graphic novel that’s just as action-packed and creepy as the original. We all know about Charlie Brooker’s classic sci-fi anthology series, which has been giving us entertaining (and disturbingly prescient) cautionary tales about the advances of technology. The series was a hit, so much so that Netflix invested in the series and has been Black Mirror’s home since 2016. Many of the episodes released by Netflix have ended up becoming some of the series most well-received, including the season 4 episode, “USS Callister”.
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“USS Callister” follows a programmer named Robert Daly who co-founded one of the most popular virtual reality MMO games. Frustrated at the lack of recognition he receives in the real world, Daly creates digital clones of employees and places them in the game, forcing them to act as his crew in a game he has total control over. It’s an incredibly popular episode, which, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, is now a full-length graphic novel by Neil Gibson and Silvano Beltramo, which delivers an incredibly faithful recreation of the original story.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
| PROS | CONS |
| Faithful adaptation to the source material | Not much difference with original episode |
| More fantastical elements work in comic form | Lack of resemblance to actors can be jarring |
USS Callister Hits All the Same Points as the Original
If you’ve ever seen the “USS Callister” episode, you know exactly what to expect from this graphic novel. All the same story beats are here, from Daly not being respected to people in the real world to the unsettling nature of the false reality he rules with an iron fist inside the Infinity game mod. I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the actual Black Mirror episode, but the more I read, the more it came back to me. It was a very familiar adventure, so I’ll give the story credit; it’s pretty damn faithful to the original./
Suffice to say, there are no real surprises when it comes to this book if you’re familiar with the story. Well, there are some surprises, namely, how none of the characters look like the actors who portrayed them in the episode. Understandably, there are likeness issues there, so I can’t fault it for that. But I do think this book was missing something by not being able to count on the amazing performances of actors like Jesse Plemons. Don’t get me wrong, Daly’s still a horrifying antagonist, but there was something special about the absence of humanity Plemmons portrayed.
USS Callister Doesn’t Reinvent the Wheel, But it Works
Don’t think I’m calling this a bad graphic novel, because I’m not. I actually think some things work strongly in this book. The scenes set in Daly’s digital hell really pop, with Beltramo utilizing classic old-school technique like kirby krackles. In fact, the graphic novel does an amazing job differentiating the two realities by making Daly’s mod more bright and colorful, like a space adventure straight out of the Silver Age of Comic Books, if only to ironically juxtapose the prison it actually is. It’s clear that Gibson and Beltramo have a real love for this series and sci-fi comics.
That being said, it is kind of frustrating reading a book knowing every twist and turn. As I said, I haven’t even watched the “USS Callister” episode in years, but nothing took me by surprise here. I suppose I can’t say it’s bad that the book is faithful, but it did make me wonder where the desire to adapt this episode came from. If it was meant to be a fun experiment, I’d say it works as it does seem to have fun with the story. But it doesn’t exactly offer anything the original episode didn’t a decade ago.
All that said, the faithfulness works. It’s still a good story, and Gibson and Beltramo do a fine job translating almost everything fans liked about the live-action story into this new format. I think someone who’d never seen the Black Mirror episode would get a real kick out of this, and I think the most hardcore Black Mirror fans will love seeing this classic story in a new light. It might not reinvent the wheel, but Black Mirror – USS Callister is about as faithful as a comic adaptation could get, and fans might like what it has to offer.
Black Mirror – USS Callister is available from Twisted Comics. Let us know what you think below or share your thoughts on the ComicBook Forum!
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