The Twilight Zone: Shadow & Substance #4 - Dynamite Entertainment

THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SHADOW & SUBSTANCE No. 4, April 2015

Ranked in 2013 by the bi-weekly American magazine “TV Guide” as the fourth ‘Greatest Drama Of All Time’, Rod Sterling’s television series “The Twilight Zone” consistently fascinated an entire generation of viewers through its wonderfully compelling episodes; be they thrillers, fantasy, science fiction, horror or adventure stories. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Mark Rahner’s fourth instalment of “The Twilight Zone: Shadow & Substance”, a comic book series marketed by “Dynamite Entertainment” as being based upon the “classic TV anthology”. But which in reality is disappointingly little more than a very poor imitation of cult programme.   

Much of this failure to recapture the atmosphere and spirit of Cayuga Productions’ “critical success” is due to the veteran journalist’s determination to make everything which happens within his twenty-page narrative as ambiguous as possible. As a result it is never clear to the reader just exactly what is going on. Something which becomes increasingly frustrating as events rapidly progress and the passage of time starts to leap forward significantly.

All that can be said with any certainty is that “the newest resident” of an unknown alien-run facility for humans is having “some difficulty adjusting” to his captivity. But just how “space-POW Lee” awoke from suspended animation to find himself trapped within the ‘prison’ remains a complete mystery throughout the issue. It isn’t even clear why his abductors took him and not the rest of his fellow astronauts. Such unknowns may well create an air of mystery and intrigue at the start of an adventure. But they leave a bitter taste when they are never satisfactorily resolved by the story’s conclusion. Has the space-traveller actually been rescued by his extra-terrestrial captors and the planet Earth “gone”? And how long was he was actually asleep “before they brought… [him] here?”

Just as confusing is Lee’s relationship with his fellow inmates. “Determined to stay a stranger” the cosmonaut refuses to call any of his colleagues by their names and keeps himself to himself. Yet somehow, in the space of a few panels, he bizarrely manages to make the acclimatised well-conditioned prisoner Tay commit suicide rather than remain a resident of the “ersatz town” (or at least that’s what it looks like in the appallingly drawn panel anyway).

Dishearteningly it is entirely possible that some of the answers to the plethora of questions this comic generates should have been resolved by Edu Menna’s illustrations. However the Rio Grande-born artist’s pencils are inauspiciously inanimate at best and lack any vitality or consistency, with wooden-looking caricatures wearing thick rectangular glasses in one panel and then in the next miraculously having none. Consequently it is genuinely hard to understand what is happening within some of Brazilian’s scenes, especially when Tay kills himself or the aliens ‘inadvertently’ provide Lee with a transporter device to (presumably) the dead Earth’s hazardous surface.

The variant cover art of "THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SHADOWS & SUBSTANCE" No. 4 by Jonathan Lau

The Twilight Zone: Shadow & Substance #3 - Dynamite Entertainment

THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SHADOW & SUBSTANCE No. 3, March 2015

Despite a seemingly desperate attempt by Mark Rahner to capture the mystery and futuristic tone of the Sixties science fiction television series with his writing for this story, “Jailbreak” is unfortunately a rather bland, uninspiring and dissatisfying read for the entirety of its twenty-pages. Indeed it is extremely doubtful that Rod Serling’s Colombia Broadcasting System sensation would have run for five seasons if the show’s episodes had been as dull and uninteresting as the exploits of this comic’s dislikable space prisoner-of-war.

Admittedly there’s a suggestion of the unusual in the book’s beginning, as the reader is introduced to Lee, “a rocker of boats and upsetter of apple carts”, who appears to be a newly arrived inmate of a “little community” prison run by unknown ‘invisible’ aliens. But sadly the plot which follows contains none of the intensity or edginess which the creator of “The Twilight Zone” appeared to so readily create week after week for his viewing audience. 

Instead the reader must endure a lacklustre tale of a ‘mystery’ man wandering around a maze-like settlement, and becoming increasingly irritated by the apathy of his fellow prisoners towards their ‘godlike’ extraterrestrial captors. Vintage television programmes, books, ‘seriously good tasting food’ and even sexual relationships are all offered to the “malcontent” in order to try and appease his desire to escape confinement… and though he dallies with a couple of these distractions the “irritant” unsurprisingly decides to escape and gets beaten up by his fellow captives as a result.

Little of this actually makes any sense… and no explanation is forthcoming as to how Lee or any of the other detainees were abducted, nor just why his compatriots would be so easily mollified by old TV shows, free shoes, and weird-looking glowing sponges which you can eat? In fact anyone perusing this issue would actually need to read the publisher’s advertisement for the comic book to realise that Lee’s jail is actually for P.O.W.s from a space war because such explanatory detail is simply not found within the magazine's narrative.

Just as substandard is Edu Menna’s clumsily drawn artwork. There is an incredible stiffness and jerkiness to the movements of the Mexican artist’s characters, and a total lack of consistency regarding their facial features. This is especially true of the penciller’s illustrations of Lee, who as the central focus of the story is shown lurching from one anatomically implausible pose to another as the pointless plot unfolds.

The regular cover art of "THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SHADOWS & SUBSTANCE" No. 3 by Guiu Vilanova

The Twilight Zone: Shadow & Substance #2 - Dynamite Entertainment

THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SHADOW & SUBSTANCE No. 2, February 2015

Whilst this second issue of “The Twilight Zone: Shadow And Substance” may well live up to its title’s aspiration for dark morbid thoughts and gloominess. Its storyline is unfortunately devoid of any thought-provoking significance or importance. Indeed this conclusion to “Stumbling Distance” is a disappointingly shallow read, which fails to either address or build upon the tension and mystery of the two-parter’s previous edition. 

Admittedly there are still some nice touches to Mark Rahner’s writing. William Gaunt almost day-dreaming as he watches his younger self ‘playfully prank’ his (presumably now long-deceased) Grandpa by turning on a water hose is a satisfyingly sentimental gesture which many readers, suddenly put in the position of being able to see long-lost loved ones a final time, will probably relate to. His excitement at entering his old bedroom, wall-to-wall with super-hero magazines, posters and drawings, is also something which comic book collectors must regularly fanaticise about experiencing.

But unfortunately that is it as far as any seemingly genuine investment of feeling into the central character goes. An interesting predicament considering the book’s author stressed prior to this periodical’s publication that he was not “interested in lazy nostalgia.” Yet this is arguably precisely what he has written.

Gaunt also knows full well how badly his Mother hurt him emotionally as a youth; why else would he have tried to commit suicide as a boy? Yet when he confronts her upon her doorstep in an effort to make her “understand what you’re doing to him” the time-traveller limits himself to a simple “Shape up. Get yourself straight. Look after him” speech. This woman’s neglect and behaviour towards him caused the man to once try and end his life, and that is all he has to say to her? Where’s the anger, the fury, the fire in the belly towards her which surely has built up over the years since his failed attempt to slit his wrists?

Most regrettable however has to be the book’s ending, which is illogical or at best dubiously questionable. Gaunt knows his younger self will survive his self-harm and in fact use that pain, anxiety and frustration to not only become a successful writer but also, as the story constantly shows, a caring, sympathetic and kind adult. So why would he steal a car, become presumably penniless and encourage self-evaporation in order to stop the boy from doing something “dumb”?

This supposed “new extension of the Twilight Zone mythos” is additionally underwhelming as a result of some quite simply terrible drawings by Edu Menna. If the awkward-looking, frankly ugly and rather robotic looking characters are examples of the ‘artistic freedom’ Nick Barrucci, Publisher of “Dynamite Entertainment”, has apparently given the Mexican illustrator, then the company’s CEO needs to have a little rethink. Certainly Menna’s uninspiring pencils, let down by some equally lack-lustre colouring by Thiago Ribbeiro and Impacto Studios, are incapable of delivering the “all-new thrills” promised when news regarding this title was first released.

The regular cover art of "THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SHADOWS & SUBSTANCE" No. 2 by Guiu Vilanova

The Twilight Zone: Shadow & Substance #1 - Dynamite Entertainment

THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SHADOW & SUBSTANCE No. 1, January 2015

“Here is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition. And it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone.” So began the Late Fifties American television science fiction anthology series by Rod Serling; a cult programme which in 2013 was ranked the fourth greatest drama of all time by the bi-weekly American magazine “TV Guide”.

Encapsulating the popularity and critical success of such a series within the confines of a comic book was always going to be a hard act for “Dynamite Comics” to accomplish but this first issue of “The Twilight Zone: Shadow And Substance” is a competent endeavour which certainly captures some of the suspense and drama of Serling’s screenwriting. Indeed the cover art by Guiu Vilanova, which pays homage to such classic televised episodes such as “To Serve Man” and “Nick Of Time”, really establishes the mood for reading a macabre thriller, or psychological ‘page-turner’ with an unanticipated twist.

Unfortunately Part One of “Stumbling Distance” by Mark Rahner doesn’t manage to quite live up to such grand expectations but certainly begins well enough, complete with spooky narration as nervous novelist William Gaunt arrives at “…a place not listed on any airport arrival or departure boards. [But] The Twilight Zone.” In fact the plot’s premise of the author anxiously arriving back in his hometown for a book signing only to then discover he’s really returned to his actual childhood past, could have been taken straight from the black and white brainchild of Serling.

Sadly the veteran comic book writer can’t ‘pull off’ the perfect imitation however, as his central character takes in his troubled time travelling trip far too readily, swiftly adapting to seeing not only his alcoholic mother but his maladjusted much younger self and interjecting himself into their lives.

Far more disappointing however is the quality of Edu Menna’s pencils, as his interior artwork is woefully inadequate, especially when compared to Vilanova’s inspired front page illustration. Claw-like hands, forced facial features, misshapen limbs and clumsy robotic poses are just some of “The Army Of Darkness” artist’s shortcomings. All of which dishearteningly combine to dull any lasting sense of drama or suspense to the ‘spooky’ storyline.

The variant cover art of "THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SHADOWS & SUBSTANCE" No. 1 by Jonathan Lau