The Good

Trevor Richmond is a rich Wall Street investor who has embezzled a large sum of money. He's moments away from getting caught and is offered a way out by a man named Mr Wylde to leave all his money behind but get off these upcoming charges.

Right off the bat, Twilight Zone fans will notice something very familiar: the opening narration. Writer J. Michael Straczynski does a fabulous job at capturing the essence of Rod Serling's voice to lead the reader into the rest of the story. This whole issue really feels like an episode of the original television series. You can tell JMS has a great appreciation for the show just by the way the story is laid out.

This is a really interesting story and a great way to grab new readers. A man has a choice to keep all his money and go to jail or he can give all his money to Wylde and take a pill that will change his appearance and disappear forever, without going to jail. Richmond goes through his transformation, in true Twilight Zone style and gets his new life on track. What the reader is left with is a fantastic and very Twilight Zone-esque ending that will leave the reader scratching their head and completely ready for the next issue.

Now, these changes with Trevor Richmond don't happen overnight. JMS paces this out as we see days pass before anything really happens. We truly get a great feel for who this character is and his relationships with the people in his life during these scenes too.

There are times where artist Guiu Vilanova and colorist Vinicuis Andrade nail the art in this book. There's a few key scenes where the detail and colors are a complete home run. This team, panel-to-panel, tells the story extremely well and makes this a visually appealing read.

The Bad

There were some slight problems with the art. Medium shots and close-up shots of these characters look great, but when they're put into a scene where it's even a tad farther back than that, there is a great amount of detail lost in the face and everything else. Obviously, the farther back a character goes in the frame, the less detail an artist will be able to put into said frame, but the jumps here are astronomical.

The Verdict

THE TWILIGHT ZONE #1 really captures the story and the feel of the original television series. It's a great start to this new on-going book. JMS has started something extremely cool here and will have the reader hooked in from page one. You don't need to be a fan of the original show to like this issue though. It's great for anyone interested in a bit of the bizarre or stories that are just a bit off in the world of science fiction. Overall, I highly recommend this issue.

Definitely looking into this. I wish there was a comic for the Night Gallery show too. That was a really neat television show.

I'm a huge fan of the original tv series, ready for that syfy marathon. I forgot this comic was coming out, I wonder if they would do a black & white variant or reprint

Oooh this sounds fascinating! Didn't even realise it was out :D

Didn't know this was coming out, but I'm definitely interested in it.

Dunno why you hated it, I found it very interesting and can't wait for the 2nd issue. :P

I was actually kinda hoping that they would finish the story in this issue, but that's obviously not the direction this is headed. He will do 12 issues with 3 story arcs so each arc is gonna run for 4 issues.

Straczynski had written 12 episodes for the mid-80s series so he knows a thing or two about the Zone.

Some more info for those who care :)

http://comicsbeat.com/straczynskizone/

Only on Comic Vine would a 4/5 rating count as 'hate'.

@farkam: Awesome idea. A comic for Night Gallery would be cool

Inside joke. :)

As a fan of the show I really thought JMS nailed the feel and tone of the book. The storyline here is interesting and I look forward to the next issue.