Writer: Tom Waltz
Artists: Casey Maloney and Stacie Ponder
Publisher: IDW Publishing

Boy, I couldn’t wait to get Gene Simmons’ Zipper open and take a look at what was inside.

Okay, it’s a horrible name. But the book is good.

In a truly unitary culture, where all are one and everything is done for the betterment of the group, there can be no greater sin than to be an individual. To be different, to think differently, is the mark of a dangerous mind- one that threatens the entire structure that holds the culture together. It is from just this type of culture, on the world of Etheria in the Nether Ether, that Denizen Xeng Ral arises. It isn’t made clear whether he has always harbored autonomous ideas or whether something has awakened his own thoughts within him, but at the start of the book we meet him as judgment is being passed for his crime of individuality. He steals an exo-suit and escapes through a transport wormhole to a distant world- Earth. Of course, on Earth he doesn’t exactly fit in, despite his best efforts to disguise himself, and Xeng Ral quickly picks up the nickname Zipper, makes enemies, and does his best to hide from is own people, who are desperately searching for him.

Tom Waltz does a good job of making Xeng Ral feel alien but not so much that he is unrelatable. You feel for him as he makes his escape from what we can only see as a despotic empire (but that surely must seem to those in it as a peaceful, safe environment). Xeng Ral simply seeks a place where he can be his own person, and does his best to peacefully blend into Earth culture (though his attempts at dialogue are pretty funny), but at the same time he has no problem at all producing weapons and grinding someone’s body apart when threatened. From peace to ultra-violence in seconds, his manner is just inhuman enough to let you know he’s not of this world.

Casey Maloney does some spectacular work here on art, with some great detail and strong storytelling work. He’s backed up well by Stacie Ponder on inks, who brings his pencils some real depth without overshadowing them, and Dusty Yee on colors, who adds a whole new level of emotion to the story with his color palette. Most impressive was the way the artists made the scenes on Etheria seem calm and idyllic while portraying Earth as dirty and dangerous, the opposite of what you would expect given that Xeng Ral flees Etheria to find freedom on Earth. It makes for an interesting mixed feeling while reading that makes it hard to just write off the Etherians as just bad guys, instead making me consider them as aliens with a different culture.

I found this to be a cool sci-fi action book, with some great art and a story worth following. It’s definitely my favorite so far from the Gene Simmons line, though I have to wonder- why all the zippers?

This is an advance review. This book is due out in November.