TERRA ANTARCTICA

Outstanding highly detailed artwork by an Argentine-Japanese creator -- shades of The Thing! Two detectives, male and female from Buenos Aires, Mosca and Maia, come to a small town in Patagonia, at "the end of the world". Just above Antarctica. They meet Joel, the suspect in a bloody bank robbery, who can’t recall his own name and keeps drawing confusing symbols pointing towards "the South". Something far more intriguing is at play here. As they drive towards Antarctica, they'll uncover secrets kept hidden for hundreds of years, holding the future of human kind at stake. An alien!! I haven't read this yet, but it's on my to-do list. I like the artwork; Nakamura has a firm grasp of technical illustrations. The snow plows and other technology are first rate; so are the explosions, the characters, and especially our very, very creepy alien. There is a small Manga influence, but everything here is played seriously. We like the heroine who'll stop at nothing to track down answers, even as her side keeps losing in one bloody encounter after another. -Bud