Beyond Real #1 is exactly the type of indie comic I love: a visual feast in which the art carries the story and themes. It’s a comic that explores the deep, existential questions arising out of simulation theory. Or maybe it’s a character study exploring grief and loss within this sci-fi framework. Whatever you take out of it, the entire creative team has obviously given their very best to produce a fantastic book. So, get to your local comic shop to pick up a copy of Beyond Real #1 before you fuzz out into oblivion. You may even get your copy for free.
Written by Zack Kaplan, one of the biggest talking points around the series has been the collaboration of multiple artists with various styles for different parts of the story as layers of reality are stripped away. Fabiana Mascolo draws most of this first issue, with colors by industry veteran and Eisner-winner Jordie Bellaire. Toni Fejzula takes over the last three pages – he’s the main artist of the next issue. The always excellent Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou provides amazing lettering. The main covers for the whole series are provided by Eisner-winner John J. Pearson – and he starts with a surreal, haunting, yet captivating image.
To summarize the story, struggling artist, June, and her physicist boyfriend, Eli – a believer in simulation theory – are in a car accident that leaves Eli in a coma. Afterwards, strange experiences lead June to discover that Eli was right and reality as she knows it is nothing more than a computer programmed simulation.
You’ll find the obvious, heavy influence of The Matrix films, with some visual cues from the reality-bending scenes in Inception. But, the more appropriate movie comparison may be What Dreams May Come, which also follows a protagonist dealing with loss and grief, adventuring through the stunning visuals of a reality beyond our own in a quest to save their lover.
Zack Kaplan uses this science fiction setting to explore the big, deep questions that naturally arise from simulation theory. Of course, we are supposed to question along with June whether our universe is real or just a simulation. But we could also question whether what’s happening to June is the real reality or if she is actually the one still in a hospital bed, dreaming it all. Then again, I wonder if it even makes sense to question the reality of what’s happening to June at all, considering the whole story is a comic book and, therefore, fiction.
Going deeper, Kaplan has his characters ask the next logical question: if our reality is, in fact, a computer simulation, doesn’t that mean there is a creator? And is that creator a rational scientist writing the laws of physics that govern nature, or an emotional artist creating just for the sake of the beauty of it all?
Kaplan symbolizes this dichotomy in the main characters: the artist, June, and her physicist boyfriend, Eli. Their back-and-forth conversation in the first scene reminds me that the true creator of the universe must have aspects of both personalities. And all of creation itself must arise out of both rational science and artistic beauty working together in a passionate relationship driven by love.
If that weren’t enough, Kaplan continues deeper by bringing up more of the most existential questions in human experience – if reality is just a computer program, does that mean everything is predestined, or do we have free will? And what about all of the pain and suffering in the world? Is that a part of the programmed plan?
Here we see how Mascolo’s art in Beyond Real #1 captures these main themes. Eli suggests that all of the suffering and apparent randomness of life could possibly make sense, if we could only see the big picture from some higher point of view. Most of this conversation between June and Eli takes place over two double-page spreads filled with small panels, as if we are to see the big picture in all the small moments.
Ultimately, all of these philosophical questions center on the search for meaning and purpose in life. Of course, it’s natural to wonder if life – and especially all of the pain and suffering – has meaning, if reality itself is just a computer simulation. And to think, all of these heavy questions are introduced in just the first five pages!
Although it’s possible to write about all of these existential questions in a very cold, scholarly way, one of the main purposes of art is to approach the human experience in a more personal, emotional way. And so, the creative team of Beyond Real go past the conversation about simulation theory to explore the theme of suffering by following June’s struggles with grief at the loss of Eli – who lies in a coma after the car accident.
In fact, the whole comic, including the sci-fi elements attributed to simulation theory, could all be interpreted as a metaphor for dealing with loss and grief. If the world is a computer program, then that feeling of your world falling apart could quite literally come true, as Mascolo beautifully illustrates June’s bedroom literally falling apart. You could question your guilt at being the driver during the accident – wasn’t everything just programmed to happen anyway? And who wouldn’t long to have the power to change things, to rewrite the program in order to bring your loved one back from the edge of death?
In all of this, the main themes are explored as much through the visuals as through dialogue or narration. I see this most clearly in the theme of perspective and perception – what is reality may just be a matter of perspective, how we perceive reality to be. And a different perspective may show us reality in a completely new way.
To emphasize this theme, Mascolo uses a variety of different visual perspectives throughout the comic. On one page the images will draw increasing closer to June’s face, until we have a tight close-up of her tear – a tear that somehow breaks a hole in reality. Another page will pull out, displaying June as just one small figure on a boardwalk. Some panels are portraits of the talking character, some aerial shots looking straight down, and others are cinematic widescreens.
Additionally, to further emphasize the theme of looking at reality through different perspectives, no two pages of Beyond Real #1 use the same panel layout. And the layout often symbolizes the emotional state or experiences of June. I already mentioned the double-page spreads filled with very linear smaller panels. Other double-page spreads feature one dominate image surrounded by a chaos of panels that overlap each other and have no particular order, mirroring June’s emotional, mental and physical torment.
Sometimes a full-page image has overlaying panels. We also find pages filled top-to-bottom with widescreen panels, emphasizing the sequence of events being depicted. And we also get one page of nine-panel grid, underscoring the wearisomeness of modern counsel in dealing with grief. Most pages have a certain sense of symmetry, but others have no symmetry whatsoever. The overall effect is a visual banquet, serving different ways of perceiving the reality presented in a comic book.
I couldn’t finish this review without praising the lettering of Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. He’s mastered his art form so well, I wonder how he’s not won an Eisner for lettering, yet. (Although he has won as editor of PanelxPanel.) Sometimes the borders of word balloons match the contours of objects so that they appear inside of the object. In other places, word balloons and their dialogue only partially appear in the panel. Or balloons are placed on top of other balloons as people talk over each other. If June can’t hear the dialogue clearly, then we can’t read it completely, either. And his sound effects are some of the best in the business – effects that really go THUD!
I went into Beyond Real #1 with very high expectations – I loved Kaplan’s previous series from Vault Comics, Mindset, and then I found the concept behind this series even more intriguing. But, sometimes high expectations can lead to disappointment. Fortunately, that’s not the case with Beyond Real #1. I’m sure it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. More drama than action; heavy on deep questions rather than fun escapism; some will probably call it boring. But, as far as I’m concerned, it completely lives up to everything I was hoping it would be.
Beyond Real #1 hits shelves December 13, 2023.
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