W0rldtr33, written by James Tynion IV with art from Fernando Blanco, along with colorist Jordie Bellaire and letterer Aditya Bidikar, is a stunning premiere of a new ongoing series. Tynion is no stranger to the horror genre but he’s still full of ideas, apparently, because this is yet another wild ride. Things are going to fall out if not strapped in properly.
This debut issue is expertly crafted, introducing characters, concepts, and conflict while still having a beginning, middle, and end. The issue also introduces a lot of big themes that many readers will find relatable.
While the plot is about the mysterious “undernet,” which seemingly drives any who view it to madness, the issue is also thematically dense. W0rldtr33 is about all the things we’re talking about when we talk about the internet. Like, bodies, for example, and existing in our world that we say is constantly connected but only in so much as we have access to the internet. We’re “connected” to information, while increasingly alienated from each other and our own bodies as we use online services to remain inside as much as possible.
Yes, we can find like-minded people and communities to which we belong, but corporate-owned websites and online services increasingly profit from eliciting emotional reactions and sowing division. What does it mean to “exist” online while still inhabiting corporeal forms? How is the internet the same and different since the Eternal September? We know we’re being “influenced” by what we see and do online to the point that being an influencer is a career nowadays, but how far can that influence go, and how consensual is that manipulation?
Artistically, the issue has a lot going for it. Characters are sometimes stricken by chromatic aberration for a panel when subjected to the horrors of the undernet. It feels harsh and otherworldly in a way that is very effective in this medium. Coloring is greatly impacted by lighting, temporal placement, and the time of day in a truly technically impressive display. This all mixes with the writing well in a way that is thematically apt as it is both incredibly attractive and alluring yet, at times, upsetting and visceral.
While the genre of horror isn’t typically something I’m personally attracted to, I am a fan of comics, and Tynion is one of the best in the medium right now. So if he’s writing horror, I guess I’m reading horror.
W0rldtr33 #1 will be available April 26.
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