Blink

 Tell me a story... about facing your past

Blink by Christopher Sebela, Nick Filardi, and Hayden Sherman (Illustrations)

Publication date: May 16, 2023

Date read: March 25, 2023

Wren Booker was three when she was found alone and covered in blood on the streets of New York. Since that day, she’s been haunted by the childhood she can't remember…until decades later when she finds a cryptic website streaming multiple CCT feeds from strange rooms in a ruined building. Something clicks, setting off hidden memories that lead her back to a place she’s seen in lifelong nightmares. Hunting for answers, Wren breaks in and finds herself lost in the camera-filled dark mazes of a decayed social experiment known only as BLINK...which she quickly discovers is not abandoned at all.

I was intrigued by this comic, mostly because of the cover artwork, so I decided to give it a shot.

First, the negative: this storyline was confusing! A downside of science fiction can often be a convoluted, confusing plot, which is what this comic suffered from. The idea behind it was intriguing, and the story was actually super creepy in a lot of places, which was great - but the story as a whole was just too hard to follow. Add in a lot of dark pages (atmospheric, sure, but sometimes hard to tell what's going on), and it just didn't work for me. [Example - it took me until page 83 to realize that Wren was female. Oops.]

The positive: The art was really fascinating. Non-traditional formatting on a lot of pages, and just really cool imagery throughout. A comic book can live or die based on the art, and I thought this art was great. I would definitely seek out these artists in the future. And I did really like the idea behind the story, so I might even read more by Sebela, even though this specific story didn't work for me. 

Overall, I felt that this was a big shot by these creators and that it just didn't quite make it. The artwork was amazing, though, so if you're open to a bit of weird sci-fi in your comics, it's a quick read and could be worth checking out. 

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Content warning: night terrors, death of parents, blood, graphic violence, body horror

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.