Michael Turner’s Fathom: Definitive Edition

Published by Aspen

Written by Michael Turner and Bill O'Neil

Pencils by Michael Turner

While Top Cow’s Witchblade was the late Michael Turner breakout title, Fathom was his first creator owned title.

Fathom debuted in 1998 and I imagine was originally greenlit by Top Cow to capitalize on the success and popularity of Turner’s style on Witchblade, but Aspen Matthews (the main character) and her undersea world were taken by Turner and used as Aspen Comics flagship title when he went solo in 2003 (after some legal wrangling with Top Cow). The title was co written by Turner, who was no stranger to writing having assisted with the plotting of Witchblade.

This Definitive Volume could be Fathom: The Top Cow Years. It collects pretty much everything published under the Top Cow banner; issues 1 to 11, and extracts of 12, 13 and 14. In addition, there are some rarities; issues 0, 1/2, Aspen: The Extended Edition (launching Aspen Comics in 2003), cover galleries, swimsuit editions, trading cards, and a few sketches. Additionally there are introductions and forewords from Michael’s co collaborators. Phew!

From her introduction in the first nine issue story, Fathom may seem no different to the titles typical of the time. Aspen Matthews is a young, attractive, sassy brunette. She’s a marine biologist, surfer and a former Olympic swimmer – so there’s lots of opportunity to draw her in her swimwear. However, I don’t think you have to get too far into this to realize that this distinguishes itself quite nicely from other 90’s “bad girl” titles.

For starters, she’s not really a “bad girl”. The opening sequence shows Aspen’s first memory – appearing on a ship that’s been missing for 10 years. She wasn’t on the ship’s manifest. She feels a strange bond to the water, leading her to her chosen vocation and hobbies. Aspen is offered the chance to participate in a research project at the bottom of the sea, and discovers some startling truths.

There are two worlds, the one we know, and the one below – to quote Full Circle, the prophetic poem that runs thematically through the story. Humans aren’t the only people on the planet. The undersea world is also occupied. And these undersea dudes aren’t happy with what we’ve been pumping into their backyard, and they’ve decided enough is enough.

Of course, there are more than a few humans who know about this and have decided that a spot of pre-emptive action is required. And one of those humans is a US Navy Admiral with some serious hardware at his disposal.

So with the two sides poised, it really doesn’t help that due to a serious f**k up by a Navy pilot who disobeys orders, the research facility Aspen has newly arrived at is destroyed with the loss of all life – except Aspen.

It turns out that Aspen is in reality one of the underwater race (known as the Blue in Volume 2), though brought up by humans; child of two worlds (another theme of the poem). And various factions are after her – the enigmatic Cannon Hawke, the charismatic Killian, and the goofy Chance, the pilot who destroyed the research facility. Aspen becomes involved with all of them, and the mysterious Blue Sun.

Once all this is resolved there’s a second two part story, a light hearted tale as Aspen investigates strange sea creatures with the help (or quite possibly hindrance) of a schizophrenic seafarer and his bizarre ramshackle submarine. All good, silly fun.

The third story is extracts from the final three Top Cow issues. The original comics saw Aspen team up with Sara Pezzini, the wielder of the Witchblade and Lara Croft, everyone’s favourite Tomb Raider. Presumably for copyright reasons, the story has been reworked to remove both Sara and Lara, and it’s now Aspen on her own in the chilly Arctic waters. Perhaps a little disappointing it’s not the full story, but one has to be realistic about these things, and the reworked story does hold together quite nicely.

Finally there’s then the Aspen: Extended Edition story – effectively a short set up for Volume Two, which was published under the Aspen banner – seeing the introduction of Kiani and the Black, another undersea race.

Of course, what Michael Turner was most well known for was his artistic style, and that’s is on display in abundance in this volume, there are pages of creativity in the designs of the undersea people’s costumes and weaponry, bizarre sea monsters, human hardware, underwater vistas and tranquil ocean sunsets. It may be a cliché, but I do regard Michael Turner’s creative vision as being unique.

Then there are the ladies. Yes, they make look like they all have an eating disorder, but most of the men look like they spent all their waking time working out. Comic artwork has never been about photo realism, and for me anyway, the whole thing just looks so good on the page, especially with the fantastic colouring throughout, it’s never been something that I’ve been bothered by.

Credit also has to be given to the writing. The main story is really quite a complex tale, of discovery, shifting allegiances, complex morality and international tensions, and there’s a nice sense of humour at play in the short story. The pages are full of dialogue, and it’s good to see a comic writer, well, write. It was such a shame that Michael Turner passed away, as I would have loved to see what other worlds he had in mind in the years to come.

This is my favourite Turner work, and I’m glad to see it receive such top notch treatment. It is a fine tribute to the talents of Michael Turner, as both writer and artist. Of course, this wasn’t a one man show, and there were many other outstanding collaborators (got to mention the colours again) on the project, who all contribute to make this what it is, but from reading the forewords, it seems that this was Michael’s baby (and I hope I’m not out of place in say that).

For me, this certainly justifies the price tag, and there’s plenty to get to grips with, both to look at and to read.

RIP Michael.

Review kindly submitted by Jonathan (Web Of Fear) Miller.