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Written by: Desiree Proctor & Erica Harrell
Publisher: Fanbase Press
Art & Book Design: Lynne Yoshii
Foreword: Dr. Katie Monin
Study Guide: Dr. Stephen J.C. Andes

While Nuclear Power isn’t a super new series, Fanbase Press just launched their paperback collection of the whole 6-part series on October 19, 2021 (also available digitally as of October 20, 2021). While you can get the issues separately, the collection comes with an additional foreword and study guide, which I actually thought was really cool. Not many comic books come with a study guide and I think this should totally be more normalized! While a historical/war period piece isn’t normally my go-to option for comics, I was really intrigued by the idea of an alternate US history and also “enhanced” humans due to nuclear war. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy a good nuclear mutant story?

I’ll admit, it took me like a dozen pages to get into the story, but then I was hooked. I should also note that this is around the time too that I discovered why Fanbase Press states that this is recommended for 18 and up due to graphic imagery… I was not mentally prepared to see a baby be born via comics! Shortly after that though is when the story finally had me wanting to keep reading as this is when we first started seeing what exactly the genetic testing the government required was for.

The story moves along at the perfect pace for its given medium (I’m totally up for a full-length Nuclear Power novel). Proctor and Harrell created a story that was not only interesting, but tugged at your heart. The details to the characters’ personalities and their backgrounds make them feel like people you actually know; some you root for, some you hope karma hits, and some you may shed a tear for. Story-wise it is almost chilling at how much this could have been an actual event… maybe minus the Variants, but who knows? The idea that the government would warp the telling of events, as well as create a mandatory genetic test for pregnancies, is not so out of the realm of possibility. It definitely is not unheard of for there to be twisted details and a lot of bias in the telling of history… but that is a rabbit-hole saved for another day on another platform.

Yoshii’s art style and lettering bring such impact and depth to this book and series. Her details are amazing but what I really want to note are her color schemes. Instead of keeping the whole book in full color, Yoshii opts to use limited, sometimes monochromatic or dichromatic, color schemes to really drive the emotion and energy of the story that Proctor and Harrell wrote. I also really would love to get some posters of Yoshii’s art from this series, those issue covers (which are just full page art in the collection) are AMAZING!

Nuclear Power was such a compelling read once I got into it that I found myself trying to read it while at work (don’t tell my day job!). Proctor and Harrell’s story will have you not only on the edge of your seat, but also thinking deeply about the power of our choices and the power of a government. Their story is heightened by incredible visuals from Yoshii that make it easy to really play this story in your mind. I’m really hoping to see more Nuclear Power stuff like a novel and artwork because this is a series that definitely should be getting way more recognition and publicity. 5/5

For more on Nuclear Power or to purchase it, click here.

Anna
anna@comicattack.ent