Status Updates From Into the Unbeing Volume 1

I loved this so much and I cannot wait to continue part two (although I’m very reluctant to finish it)

I can’t wait to re-read it again after I’m finished with part two. I think a second read will be rewarding! What a beauty! A sci-fi eco-horror blend with a team of complex characters who don’t trust nor know each other much, sprinkled with quite moments of introspection and wonder, it’s so good.

I wonder what S.I.N.E.W. wants from them. On one hand, it seems obvious that they send them to study it (it appeared out of nowhere so maybe it’s not dead but on the move, but it seems like it’s decaying but then there is a huge biodiversity inside) but then again, why send Zara to liquidate them and cover the whole thing up? Did they give explicit orders or was she just speculating? I have so many questions.

I have to say that I absolutely adore the S.I.N.E.W. logo, it’s so cool. (I’d join them too if I could) so far everyone on the team is carrying something (Hildur’s guilt and grief for her dead family, Zara guilt over what she’d done to survive, Selva survivor’s guilt maybe, and Abby is the trickiest of them all, but if I had to guess then maybe the time she had lost faith or some such. I need to know more

But where did she see it first? It seems like it appeared in different places. Abby had joined S.I.N.E.W. way back when the “crisis” just started and they started doing what they can to delay it. I have so many questions.

But it doesn’t explain the fact that they’re neatly sealed now does it? Did the little bugs do that? Or was it the acid? It burned her legs and then cauterized the wound? This was what happened to the one who engraved the record on the wall, it’s crazy. I don’t trust Abby, she really wanted to sacrifice Selva. And she’d joined S.I.N.E.W. And this whole expedition to find this giant

And lastly, we finally got to Abby, the team’s surveyor. I knew her issue would be insane. But first of all, Hildur is alive! And second of all, what on earth is that creature that talks like a fromsoft character and looks like it came straight out of a nightmare? AND what the hell happened to Selva’s legs? I assumed that she were at the giant’s stomach so that’s why her legs were essentially melted

And what the hell was that antler creature?

She doesn’t even keep a journal. She has her little bug journal though but it’s not the same. And now I can’t help but wonder if she’s going to make it or that’s going to be it for her. I mean she broke her legs in three different places and the insects (or whatever they are) were closing in on her so that indeed might be it for her.

And now an issue from the POV of the team’s entomologist: Selva. I enjoyed her POV too, it’s less bleak. Though some would argue that there’s still some guilt in there. The note carved on the wall was…foreboding. It is insane that they’re inside a giant body. They’re in the thoracic cavity or maybe in a pleural cavity. I want to know more about Selva though. All we got is glimpses. Which is interesting

I’ve noticed that every single one of them (so far) is guilt ridden, sometimes I wonder if this place is even real at all. But it’s got to be, right? It is so creepy and I love it! I can’t wait to see more of it but I really don’t want to finish it. It’s great!

But there’s still hope right? Zara didn’t kill them even though she could have. She even went and helped Abby. I thought she was going to kill her but she didn’t. I really love this issue. It was so eerie. My brother had made the observation that each issue cover is the POV character of that issue and I think he’s totally right. It is totally Zara with the oil coming out of her eyes and mouth, it’s so good!

And now we’re following Zara, the geologist. This was the most chilling (so far). The way Zara (and the others) kept denying and rationalizing what they already know was heartbreaking. This whole expedition feels doomed. And knowing that Zara was sent in to make it all go away makes it feel even more like this. Harold’s journal was disturbing and the fact that it was in Nepal and now it’s in Australia…hmmm

I cannot wait to continue reading!

I love the setting, and the small group of four scientists (Hildur the botanist, Selva the entomologist, Zara the geologist, and Abby the surveyor) who’d been on this mission for two months already. They don’t trust each other yet. And Hildur is grieving the loss of her husband and daughter. And she went into that head in the middle of the night and now the sandstorm has forced the others to join her.

I’ve just finished the first issue and I can say with absolute certainty that I am going to love this one! My brother pitched this to me (last Friday) as Scavenger Reign plus a little bit of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Annihilation (2018) all of which I (we both) loved! So I thought I should read the first issue and see how it goes, and yeah he was spot on.

This is basically a graphic novel adaptation of Annihilation, but set in Australia. It's pretty good, but right now it's far too derivative. I'm hoping it pulls something more unique out the bag before the end.