INDEPENDENCE DAY: DARK FATHOM
Deep trouble
Released to coincide with the release of Independence Day: Resurgence, this prequel miniseries acts more as an adjunct to the first movie.
Dark Fathom takes place a few months after the original 1996 alien invasion was thwarted, as Captain Joshua Adams – a general in the new film – is dispatched to recover an alien fighter craft that’s crash-landed in the Atlantic.
Foregoing the film’s bombastic approach, writer Victor Gischler instead weaves a tense, claustrophobic tale, which mostly occurs in a sub at the bottom of the ocean.
Imbuing Adams with a fear of water gives him some much-needed vulnerability. Gischler also offsets the submarine crew’s testosteronefuelled machismo by focusing on Adams’s relationship with sub commander Captain Meredith, who’s determined to protect her crew at all costs.
Considering seven pencillers and inkers have contributed to the five-parter, there’s a solid consistency to the art. And with a final page teaser hinting at things to come, hopefully more up-to-date adventures will follow. Stephen Jewell