By my estimates, from the ages of about 1 to 18, I lived in seven different homes. And so I’m acutely aware of the meaning (or lack thereof…) tied to homes, and the value we draw from these places in terms of identity, safety, interpersonal connection, etc.
Even my perpetually home-bounding behind felt the cutting efforts of the all-new BOOM! Studios miniseries The Displaced.
The brain-child of writer Ed Brisson, artist Luca Casalanguida, and colorist Dee Cunnife, The Displaced follows residents of the real-life Oshawa, Ontario after it’s suddenly sucked into the very earth. If that sounds like a prestige drama meets, say, The Mist, you wouldn’t be very far off.
That rather specific dynamic is what makes The Displaced so effective so early on, as Brisson and company get right to work laying out our heroes, including Emmett (who’s slamming beers at a bar pre-town sinking) and Gabby (who is running off to get diapers). We get a chance to understand these characters and see them engage (and clash) in a pretty efficient manner. The team’s whole approach is about dropping us into this world with such precision that we almost feel like we’re a part of the disaster itself, and we get to sort out our bearings alongside the “survivors” in a way that feels refreshingly organic.
I’ve used the prestige TV comparison before — usually to strike at a certain quality and a sense of pointed drama — but it really feels apropos here given that there’s such a rich cast that coalesces pretty effectively so early on. The dialogue proves snappy and varied enough, everyone feels fully formed and ready to contribute to the larger story (while feeling still richly individualistic), and it’s all that tension and emotion that drives us forward. It’s a powerful foundation and lineage early on that helps oodles.
BOOM! Studios
Of course, there’s also something bigger at play here, and the vaguely sci-fi aspect of this quickly pivots into something profoundly intriguing. I don’t want to spoil what that is exactly, but let’s just say it’s a revelation about the fate of the town that gave your boy genuine goosebumps. If I had to try and describe the “big reveal,” it’s certainly very Stephen King a la The Langoliers — in that it certainly gets you to feel a kind of terror that really draws out that central theme of home and what happens when that sense of “gravity” is taken away from us.
It’s also when more of the kind of horror-esque aspects of this book start to develop, and the fact that it’s so thoughtful in how it approaches that tension and energy is just another reason why our immersion here is meaningful across the board. At the same time, though, this spin never hurts the deeply human core of this book; if anything, it’s going to take all these personalities and test them in some very intriguing and likely satisfying means. In that sense, it’s sci-fi and horror that means a damn because it perpetuates that humanity above all else.
BOOM! Studios
But even before the big turn of this book is dropped onto our faces to unwound the very fabric of our primate brains, it’s Casalanguida and Cunnife that are busy building the world around a really tight and effective narrative. Despite the deeply human interest of this story, the two never fall prey to overly mundane scenes (even as what we’re dealing with is just such mundane scenes, like a slice of life at a small town bar).
Rather, they fill each moment with a mostly deliberate undertone of intensity and darkness that whispers to the quiet part of your brain that something is afoul, even as it very much gives us something that’s warm, almost approachable in terms of the look and feel of this town and its inhabitants. The end result is something that invites us in and still gives us an edge to play with in our minds, and from that we’re all the more immersed. We’re also feeling just comfortable enough for the book’s finale to knock us off our chairs and get us to further question our place in reality.
BOOM! Studios
As much as the kind of baseline of this book works — the character designs are intriguing enough without missing that much-needed small-town familiarity — the obvious magic has to be when we learn of the town’s fate and what that all means for the reality of this book. Except that it’s treated, at least from a visual standpoint, without a lot of pomp and circumstance. Sure, there may be more reality-bashing visuals and other magic to come, but for now, the art team use some basic visuals — mostly some varied fonts from letter Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and really effective close-up shots — to play with our understanding and sensibilities leading up to said revelation.
And I for one like that it’s a really subtle sort of shift — it not only keeps the focus on the people and their reactions, but it makes it feel all the more targeted and insidious. It’s not about some spectacle but sliding the knife in even as we’re paying solid attention. It gives us nothing to hold on to, as it were, as everything is upended, and we’re left to scramble for our place in it all and to find solid ground once more. It’s a powerful choice, for sure, and another way this book’s visuals deftly explore humanity and extends that thread of powerful emotions throughout.
BOOM! Studios
There’s that saying about how you can’t go home again, which seems like something I’m more than familiar with by now. Things change and you must soldier on, and some of the good people within Oshawa, Ontario are learning a very powerful and horrific version of that lesson right now. But for what it’s worth, I may not exactly be home but I certainly feel that gravity and emotional tether as this book tries to give us something true just before it pulls the walls down and sets fire to the floor.
It’s a process that makes me want to stay for as long as possible, and acts as a reminder of the real value of home: somewhere to unpack your true self alongside a family (found or otherwise) as the world tries to take it all away. If this is just the start, I can’t wait to see what this book really builds as it further unpacks its many objects and artifacts.
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