Echo

Echo written and drawn by Terry Moore. 

This comic and this story is simply awesome.  I’m going to do my best to write how well done this comic book is because I want everyone to go out and read it.  It simply is that good and I would say it’s one of the best comic books ever written.  It really is that good.

I didn’t quite know what to expect from this story when I first found it at the library.  I passed it by a lot, picking it up every now and then just to see what it looked like.  I’d flip through the over 500 pages and just not get a good feel for what I was seeing, so then I’d put it back on the shelf and just walk by.  This went on for a long time and then one day, after I’d read most of what I really wanted to read from the libraries comic book selection, I pulled it from the shelf and checked it out.  I’ve read it twice now and it was as good the second time around as it was the first time.  

This isn’t simply a comic book and to put it in the comic book section is to do this book a grave disservice.  This is a story, plain and simple.  I’d put it in the same category as Watchmen, Sandman, Y the Last Man, and The Dark Knight Returns, which all told stories, but just used the comic book format to tell a story.  What Moore has done is written a really good sci-fi story.  And he did the one thing most sci-fi writers don’t do: he focused on characters.  There is some crazy sci-fi concepts in this story that have the ring of truth behind them, he then backs up that sci-fi with some good science and philosophical questions.  But Moore then populates the story with some good characters as he doesn’t stay focused on the technology or sci-fi.  This is a very character driven story that happens to be set in a sci-fi world.  He understands this better than half of the sci-fi writers out there right now. 

Are his characters that good?  Absolutely, they are extremely believable and have some funny, realistic conversations that bring them to life in ways I’m not used to seeing in comics, only in books.  Moore also isn’t afraid to explain things that are going on in the story, not being content to leave unexplained.  Unlike some other creators (Lost, X-Files), he actually likes to give answers to questions he’s brought up, so much so that by the end of the story there are little or no loose threads dangling from the story.  He also likes his characters to actually tell each what is going on, instead of letting them just sit around brooding or thinking about things.  He even encourages conversations between them, as those conversations go a long way into developing character, providing motivations, and bringing out emotions.  He does things with these characters that most writers don’t even do in books, movies, and television shows.  After reading through this a second time, it was the characters I was just amazed with, especially the female characters.  Moore doesn’t demean or treat them as a piece of meat.  He has created some intelligent, believable women, and for that alone he should be applauded in a comic industry that abuses and exploits women characters on a frequent basis.