Trillium #3 Review
Published by Vertigo
‘Chapter 3: Telemetry’
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Art: Jeff Lemire
Colourist: Jeff Lemire and José Villarrubia
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Cover Art: Jeff Lemire
A review by Jake Morris.
In the comic book market, there is always room for original sci-fi. Being a genre that usually relies on special effects, it becomes a challenge for both writer and artist to translate those cinematic moments onto paper. When that is achieved though, it truly is a sight for sore eyes.
Jeff Lemire’s Trillium in that respect, is certainly a sight.
The latest issue of Trillium brings the story to a head with Nika and William fighting to either stop a mass onslaught of an alien world or to simply meet one another again. What is most fascinating about Trillium is how Lemire so nonchalantly flips the story on its head (literally in other aspects). Nika’s journey from when we first met her has come a long way… She was once a respected member of Earthlab challenged with visiting the native village of the alien world, but move forward to this issue and a different Nika is now found in her place.
This change is interesting when compared to William who appears to be far more rash than before but in reality he isn’t losing his mind, whereas at the start of the story, he was quite the broken man.
Jeff Lemire conveys the transition brilliantly in how both lead characters’ minds have been seemingly opened to factors that they mentally they cannot comprehend. It is most interesting to see how Lemire handles the disposition of each character, with Nika now seemingly losing control of situations that she would have otherwise had the answers for. William on the other hand is a tougher angle, as his desperation for any form of hope comes across as another form of trauma to Clay, who is sure that William is only growing worse in his condition.
The layout of the story jumps around a lot, but this works as the equilibrium of the story requires an unbalance due to the mental state of the characters and the frequent time switching. In terms of design, this is not a simple book, with constant flipping of upside down pages resulting in reading left to right or right to left. For some books, this could be seen as either gimmicky or unnecessary but those moments hold relevancy for the story. As Nika learns of her detainment due to Pohl fearing for the loss of her sanity, Lemire plays the ol’ switcheroo with the book flipping and moving focus to William. Figuratively it plays on the idea of Nika’s world being turned upside down but also leading into William’s world that now, for him, has direction. It is rather intelligent and works because of the book’s design in relation to panel arrangement.
Trillium’s colouring is back to joint styles for issue three. José Villarrubia colours Lemire’s pencils not only beautifully but also cleanly, and it is the sharp sense of his work that offers the biggest difference from that of Lemire’s water colours. The use of water colours for the Nika side of the story works perfectly. She has begun to look gaunt and has evidently seen better days. The more Nika struggles to escape Earthlab and return to the temple, the more mad her complexion appears. Nika’s dialogue with Essie is warming however, as the reader knows she hasn’t lost her mind, which makes the companionship between the two welcome before her struggle becomes too frustrating.
Splash pages are always standout moments for artwork in any book, but I fail to see how any reader can look at those displayed in issue three without being mesmerised. Witnessing the mixture of Villarrubia’s and Lemire’s different colour style is not only something that stops you in awe but from a technical standpoint, brings about some fascinating ideas.
Describing the quality of Trillium only ever leads to running out of superlatives in which I can appraise Jeff Lemire’s latest creator owned work. It is a story that you will not find anywhere else, and if you aren’t checking the book out on a monthly basis, you are depriving yourself of something rather special.
Writing: 5/5
Art: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
Jake is a contributing writer for Drunk On Comics. You can follow him on Twitter at @JakeUtd.