Assorted Crisis Events has been a masterclass in high-concept sci‑fi premises, time collapsing, parallel Earths, apocalyptic breakdowns as allegories for real-world social collapse, climate crisis, and psychological trauma. That continues in Assorted Crisis Events #4 out this week, which focuses on a man who keeps losing track of time. He might get married or have kids, but the next second, he looks up and realizes they’re grown, or his wife is gone. It’s a lesson for us all that we need to stop and take things in, or it’ll all be over in the blink of an eye.
Once again, writer Deniz Camp’s narrative mirrors modern anxieties through a young boy named Mike. The comic opens on him in grade school, but by the end of the page, he’s in college. He continues to sleep through his alarm clock, which doesn’t change, but his age sure does. From there, the narrative barrels through his life, from him getting a job, going through roommates, and eventually managing a wife, trysts, and lost time all along the way. It’s a relatable premise if you’ve ever stopped and wondered, “Where did my 20s/30s/40s go?”
Ultimately, the impact of the issue is found in Mike’s facial expressions. He’s in utter shock at times, but in most cases, he’s complacent and unaware of time shifting on him. Artist Eric Zawadzki makes you feel for him, even when he’s ruining his own life, because he’s incapable of controlling the lost time in between big life moments. It’s particularly heart-wrenching when Mike confronts a lover, unaware that said lover has not only moved on, but gotten married and has a kid!
The first page.
Credit: Image Comics
Colorist Jordie Bellaire renders the entire issue in blues and reds as if we’re looking at schematics of this character’s life. The contrast is striking from page to page, with only the mascot of this series, the time traveler, rendered in full color, which makes him pop.
Paired with Zawadski’s pencils, every page feels like a work of art. A recurring theme is seeing Mike’s face on the left side of the page in side profile, first at the top, then moving down, and finally at the bottom. Not so coincidentally, Mike’s face is framed on the bottom left in side profile when he himself has hit rock bottom. There are clever visual ideas like this throughout.
My only gripe with this issue is that the sci-fi element seems missing. One can assume Mike is experiencing these time jumps due to the ongoing science fiction twists in the series, but we never see it, nor is it confirmed to be happening at all. For this reason, the story about Mike could very well be the story of any of us, not because of the supernatural element affecting Mike, but because of the universal human experience. The story is still great, but it misses the secret sauce of the series that kicks off the various premises.
Assorted Crisis Events #4 trades spectacle for introspection, offering a moving and haunting character piece that lingers long after the final page. While it dials back the overt sci-fi mechanics that defined earlier issues, its emotional weight and visual ingenuity more than make up for it, reminding us that sometimes the greatest crisis is simply how fast life passes us by.
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