Like many forms of media, comics transport us all to worlds of the unbelievable. Superheroes, Vampires, aliens, the stories people dream up allow us to meet these otherwise impossible entities. Unfortunately, when they end, we all know (or are at least pretty sure) that such things don’t exist in the real world. However, what if the impossible did exist? Would they be real? Or are they just making things up? Well, Adam Hodge and Luke Horsman delve into that question with Journee #1, which sees a former cop encounter someone who claims to have extraordinary talents.

Publisher: The Nobody Archives
Writer: Adam Hodge
Artist: Luke Horsman
Price: Available through COMICS | Nobodyarchives

Journee tells the story of Lyssa, a former cop and SWAT team member who arrives at a mysterious house for a security job. However, upon her arrival and meeting the mysterious supervisor of the security team, Lyssa is introduced to her main charge: Girl. Discovering that her job is to watch, protect and control this house’s young ward, Lyssa is both uneasy and disgruntled, fearing the role was hers due to her gender. However, Girl then shares with her a secret; that she is super smart and capable of Time Travel.

Journee’s opening instalment was an intriguing read as writer Adam Hodge creates a story which came across as a mystery reminiscent of the Jeff Bridges film K-Pax. However, while that film is about the notion that an instituted man may be an alien, the similarity in this comic comes at the idea of whether what Girl tells Lyssa about her ‘talents’ is indeed true. Thankfully, the writer creates a world where either scenario could be true, with a lead seemingly conflicted as she finds herself trapped between her desire to make a difference and her wish to make her partner, Jamie, happy.

Meanwhile, artist Luke Horsman’s work on this issue is a solid, if not entirely consistent, effort with a few pages here and there lapsing in quality compared to the book’s majority. That said, Horsman’s style, which has a vibe similar to Rob Ahmad’s work on the Show, is nonetheless a fantastically fitting one to this story. What really makes this work great is not just the pencils, which seem to be made up of a really thick line (making them perfect for the monochrome look) but also the colours. Horsman seems to have taken a page out of Black Magick’s book as Journee is predominantly black and white but for a single appearance of colour which lends greater credence to Girl’s specialness. In fact, this idea of colour hinting at something bigger is a constant in the issue as the lettering contains small, coloured speech bubbles which, while containing no words, imply an unseen aide to Girl’s plans.

Journee’s first issue is a slow burn issue, which is predominantly there for set up. However, don’t let that fool you as Adam Hodge and Luke Horsman have teased a deeply intriguing story and character with this first entry as it leaves me eager to know what comes next. Therefore, while it may not be to everyone’s tastes, Journee is certainly something to try.