IDW; $4.99  

In the year 2040, the Event Horizon starship vanished during its first mission. The ship and its crew used a Gravity Drive that created a dimensional gateway to jump from one point to the next. What they couldn’t imagine is the horrific place the ship would travel to when they made the jump.  

Event Horizon Dark Descent is based on Event Horizon, the sci-fi horror movie released in 1997. In the film, a crew including the Gravity Drive creator Dr. Weir, is sent to investigate what happened to the starship when it returns to known space. What they find is that their first jump using the Gravity Drive sent them to Hell – and something evil returned with the ship. 

Dark Descent starts after Dr. Weir’s wife committed suicide while he was finishing his work on the Gravity Drive. Once the work is completed, the ill-fated crew head out for their journey. For the first issue, writer Christian Ward introduces the multinational crew, some of whom have troubled pasts that affect the rest of the crew. In the introductory issue, Ward does a fine job of setting the scene and hinting that dark forces may have played a bigger part in what happened than was seen in the movie. 

It has a powerful sense of foreboding, compliments of artist Tristan Jones and colorist Pip Martin. They capture the darkness and isolation of space, pepper in shots of the creepy Gravity Drive and exterior of the ship, and periodically show the sinister forces at work. 

The book is part of the new IDW Dark horror imprint, and it is well suited for both the imprint and as a prequel to the source material. 

–Amanda Sheriff