2014 comic books by Garth Ennis
Caliban is a creator-owned comic book series, blending the science fiction and horror genres. The series was created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Facundo Percio, and published by Avatar Press as a seven-issue limited series in 2014.
Creation.
Ennis was inspired to write the series while trying to guess the plot of "Alien" prequel "Prometheus". He described the original as one of his favourite films; when he saw "Prometheus" it went in a different direction than he had expected, and Ennis decided to turn his idea into a comic. Ennis also cited "Event Horizon", "Pitch Black" and "Pandorum" as influences, but hoped "Caliban" would do something new with the concept. He chose to work with Percio after admiring his "mesmerising" work on Alan Moore's "Fashion Beast".
Publishing history.
Despite being dated March 2014, the first issue shipped in April. The first issue sold 13,196 copies to comic stores, ranking 154th on Diamond's charts., though by the final issue this had dropped to 7,766 copies and 252nd. As was typical for Avatar titles, the first issue featured six variant covers, while the other six issues had five apiece.
Synopsis.
In the future mankind has explored 119 planets and moons, not finding a single one that is habitable or supports intelligent life. Instead space travel revolves around mining various minerals, with ships transporting cryogenically preserved expert personnel through warpspace. One such vessel is the "Caliban", named for the Shakespearean character, which is making a seemingly routine journey when without warning it is merged with a huge unknown ship in warpspace. 17 of the 30-strong ship crew are instantly killed, while the cargo of 90 sleeping miners is vented into space by the accident. Atmospheric seals allow the survivors to travel between sections of the "Caliban" and the unknown vessel.
Survivors include the ship's captain Delong, executive officer Pierce, pilot McCartney, systems officer Nomi Gallo, engineer Sanchita "San" Malik, Cuthbert and Ferrara. Nomi and San explore, stumbling into a huge chamber on the other ship containing preserved, dead alien lifeforms. Aside from that the other ship is deserted. Twelve of the survivors reconvene and after briefly discussing the scientific implications of the accident before deciding all they can do is attempt to ensure their survival, sealing off non-essential sections of the "Caliban" to reduce the amount of oxygen being vented into the other ship. As it will take a month for a distress signal to reach the nearest station Delong decides they will try to trigger the other ship's engines, assigning San to try and interface with the alien computer and Malik - who confesses she's long been attracted to an oblivious San - as her bodyguard. Unaccounted for is the ship's navigator Karien, who briefly made contact with the others but is believed dead. He opens a door to the other ship and is briefly confronted by a huge alien corpse before it disintegrates. In the process Karien becomes possessed by a malevolent alien consciousness and begins killing "Caliban" survivors.
Karien uses the alien ship's equipment to modify his own body and abducts Pierce and Cuthbert, torturing them to find out the limits of the human body. Having been lovers with Pierce, Delong slumps into depression. McCartney gets him back to the bridge and discusses Karien's inhuman behaviour with Nomi and San. With little option but to continue with the plan Ferrara leads a team to continue sealing off the unneeded areas while McCartney and the near-catatonic Delong make for Cuthbert's quarters, the crewman having confessed he smuggled a contraband gun onboard before he was taken.
Nomi continues to make progress on linking the two ships' computers but when Ferrara's team discover Karien they opt to make an impromptu attack with welders and tools. However, the creature is even stronger than before and kills all five of them easily before McCartney can arrive with the gun. Instead he returns to the bridge with Delong, and the survivors note that even the gun would likely be no use on Karien in his current state. Nomi meanwhile successfully links the computers and accesses the alien craft's databanks.
They find the ship belongs to a race who describe themselves as "Faunaculturists", who have found 98 inhabited worlds. One had all its lifeforms die and after returning to their craft they began to be killed in a similar manner to the crew of the "Caliban", with the malevolent entity jumping from victim to victim. Unable and unwilling to kill it the remaining aliens opted to shut down life support and broadcast warnings. Discovering that the incident took place in the year 1369, Nomi, San and McCartney realise the entity is capable of laying dormant for centuries. They also deduce that it hopped around several of the aliens trying to find a navigator so it could travel to a new planet; by possessing Karien it already has the navigational information it needs to get to Earth, and is likely also trying to restart the merged ships. Unable to risk moving through the ships and running into Karien the only option is for McCartney to take a coupling outside. However, the creature has modified Karien's body to the extent it is able to step into the void and caves in the helmet of McCartney's space suit, killing him. Delong meanwhile commits suicide with the gun. Now the only two survivors, Nomi and San use the gun to set a trap on the bridge for the creature as San tells Nomi that she fell for her when they first met.
They move back into the other ship as the trap fails when the bullet only wounds Karien. San plans to use the alien equipment to give Karien's body an overdose of modifications to incapacitate him, realising that killing him will only means the entity jumps to one of their bodies. However, Karien arrives and impales San and prepares to force Nomi to take him to Earth with her computer skills.
San is only wounded and attacks the alien, having injected herself with body-modifying technology. She pins Karien to the deck as the pair prepare to fire up the engines of the alien ship; Nomi belatedly realises San means to stay behind and overheat the engines' core in order to ensure the entity is destroyed. San knocks Nomi out and places her in an escape capsule, ejecting her from the "Caliban". She is attacked by the creature but with her own enhancements is able to overpower and drown it in a vat of preservative. The entity leaps in San's body but she has prepared for the eventuality, having taken an overdose herself and ensuring they are both destroyed as the ships go critical. Meanwhile, Nomi's escape pod floats safely in space, broadcasting an SOS as she is in cryogenic sleep, dreaming of San.
Reception.
Writing for Multiversity Comics, Michelle White rated the first issue at 8.9 out of 10 while Lonnie Nadler of Bloody Disgusting rated it 4.5 out of 5. Gary Collinson of Flickering Myth gave the seventh and final issue a moderately positive review. Tom Kelly of World Comic Book Review gave the series as a whole a negative review, identifying it as derivative of Ridley Scott's film "Alien". Comics Bookcase's D. Emerson Eddy was more positive in a retrospective review, who identified the story as gripping even if it featured familiar elements.
Collected editions.
The series has been collected into a single volume.
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;