Comics Review: "Bodies" #1

- by Señor Editor, 1 August 2014

Vertigo just launched a new 8-issue series called „Bodies” and it’s looking like it’s going to be a good one. The book tells 4 stories, happening in London in 4 different years: 2014, 1890, 2050 and 1940. In each story, a dead and mutilated body is found. The catch? It’s the same body. 

Click to enlarge.

“Bodies” is written by Si Spencer and each of the different time periods (each one of them takes up 6 pages per issue) is drawn by a different artist. Dean Ormston handles the Victorian story, Phil Winslade does the World War II part, Meghan Hetrick is responsible for the modern day, and Tula Lotay does the most bizarre, futuristic one.

Each of the artists has a completely different style, but they all fit the story (or stories…) well. Ormston’s Victorian story is dark, dirty and moody, looking like a Jack the Ripper story. Winslade’s WWII London has the slick, stylish look of a noir comic. Hetrick’s modern day looks realistic, clean and new. And Lotay’s future London is bright-colored, odd and mysterious.

The book opens in the modern day, where the police handles riots in the East End. The protagonist of this story is D.S. Shahara Hasan, a London-born Islamic cop. After the riots are taken care of, Shahara is called to a crime scene, where she sees a horribly mutilated body. She notes, that it looks like the work of a professional. 

In 1890, on Longharvest Lane, Inspector Edmond Hillinghead chases away a male prostitute, performing oral sex on some nasty character. As they run away, one of them trips over a body, mutilated just like the one we’ve seen in 2014. The cops note a similarity to the Ripper killers, but the M.O. doesn’t check out, since Jack only killed women. Since the body was found in an infamous part of the town, the cops suspect the victim to be a “pederast” and no autopsy is performed. The victim has a symbol carved on his hand, that resembles a Masonic sign.

1890 and 1940. Click on each to enlarge.

In the dream-like future of 2050, Detective Maplewood suffers from a really odd amnesia. As she finds the body, she begins remembering words, concepts and who exactly she is.

In the 1940 East End, we meet Inspector Whiteman. He seems like a pretty corrupt fellow, and he may possibly be a naturalized German. When the bombings start, Whiteman and another cop uncover the body.

2014 and 2050. Click on each to enlarge.

Freaky! So yeah, we don’t know how these stories are connected. We don’t know who the dead man is. Each of the protagonists have their own backstory, and all of them are very distinct characters. The premise seems beautifully simple, and the mystery of it all is very compelling.

It seems like Vertigo’s got a real winner on their hands. Time will tell how this story develops, but I know I’m on board for future issues!


Have you read “Bodies”? What do you think it’s all about? Sound off in the comments!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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