Nuclear Family #5

Nuclear Family #5

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Stephanie Phillips

Illustrated by Tony Shasteen

Coloured by JD Mettler

Lettered by Troy Peteri

Thrust into an alternate reality where the Cold War turned hot and nuclear fire rained down on America, the McClean family is faced with a future replete with nuclear experimentation and deadly political machinations. Even if the McCleans can make it back to their own timeline, is there any way to avoid the post-apocalyptic future awaiting them?

There is something about the way that this ends that was a little disappointing to me. I think I’d have preferred to see the Boom than the black and left it there leaving the reader to wonder whether or not it worked. I think that would have been a far more effective ending than tying it up with a pretty little bow. Again this is just my opinion. I did find it interesting to open this issue in Korea and seeing Tim playing with the radio as it sets us why he had the radio system in his basement. Now seeing the Governor who appears to be a young Mitch McConnell, yuck, was another interesting bit seeing as how he was willing to believe Tim and take him home in the attempt for him to make it back to his time and set things right. Though how exactly that is supposed to work is beyond me.

I do like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented rather quite well. The character development is rather interesting as well thanks to the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story as ti races towards its conclusion we’re gripped in the clutches of these events.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to play themselves out is well done. The layers contain the strong characterisation and bits such as the Governor and Roger going with them work with the main arc and swirling around the main arc adding extra depth and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved extremely well.

Tony’s work on the interiors is always mindbogglingly brilliant to look at. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques create the detail work that we see is extraordinarily well rendered. The creativity and imagination we see in how these zombie style creatures we see is impeccably rendered. The way that backgrounds are utilised throughout being utilised to enhance the moments as well as working within the composition of the panels to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is magnificent to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is phenomenal. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a stellar eye for how colour can be used to maximum effect.

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With the exception of the ending I think was told exceptionally well. The solution seems so utterly simple and yet it is a complete gamble whether or not it would truly work. Also I think that the duality of Korea and the basement playing out side by side was an interesting choice and it engages the reader in an unexpected way. Overall this was a fun little story that takes something familiar that Stephanie puts her own unique spin on.