Written by: David Quantic
Art by: Tamara Bonvillain
Published by: Qubed Comics
Some comics really defy introduction and refrain me from writing something sensible in my opening lines; this is one of those comics. Coming from new-to-comics writer David Quantic is Bakersfield, Earth: Evolution, a comic about an alien spirit from Jupiter who has inhabited human bodies Quantum Leap style for millions of years, who one morning wakes up to discover himself in the body of a transvestite woman living in Bakersfield, Kansas. See what I mean? With such a seemingly ridiculous premise I’m glad to say that this debut issues manages not only to be a lot of fun, but surprisingly impactful in its tackling of real world issues.
Quantic himself has a great sense of humour and the writing itself is hilarious, I even found myself laughing along with the comic which is a rare thing for me. His set up is absolutely bizarre and rife with joke potential, his alternate version of human history I found to be a high-point of the opening section and was very clever. The issue changes quite drastically however in the second half as it becomes a lot more serious; being a transvestite in 1973 our protagonist, who goes under the alias Betrice, comes under a lot of pressure from society and this is a key theme of the rest of the issue and what seems to be the entire series. This later half is still handled and written very well, the change is just pretty jarring and takes a little getting used to given the laugh out loud nature of the opening.
The art too goes through a few changes during the story, however it always looks great. Bonivillain does a great job capturing emotion is her characters and managed to make each one feel unique, making them feel like real, genuine people. It’s an important factor since a lot of the issue seems to rely on character so it’s great that so much emotion manages to come through in the art. What really stunned me was the splash page in which Betrice explains her past lives; it looks absolutely beautiful and captures the complexities found in life, all in a single image.
The only real problems I had with the issue is the pacing, it just feels a little too quick at times. As stated, the tone changes rapidly in the book which I feel a slower pace could’ve aided but there’s also a romance angle that I felt could’ve had a little more time to develop. It just feels a little to perfect and therefore removes some of the impact of the events. That said however, without giving too much away, the ending of the issue completely flipped my expectations on where the story was going and what’ll happen next, so the quick pace may have just been so we can have the introduction out of the way and get to the real story. It certainly leaves me excited to read what comes next.
Overall, this is definitely a comic I’d recommend, it’s something new and comes from a really fresh voice that I’m interested in reading more from. While only the first issue is available now, Quantic claims he has plans to kickstart a full graphic novel for the rest of the story so I’ll definitely keep my eye open for that and recommend you all do the same. In the meantime, I’d recommend checking out this issue any way you can, it’s definitely worth a read.
