Publisher: 2000 AD
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Steve Yeowell
Colourists: Gina Hart
Release date: 16 July 2015
Price: £20/$25

What if the X-Men were exactly what their critics feared and they destroyed humanity? Zenith Phase Four is about how a government-created a group of super humans (Horus) who do just that. And Zenith Phase Four throws in some H.P. Lovecraft elder gods and an F. Scott Fitzgerald Benjamin Button character to broaden the palate (or crowd the platform, depending on your tastes).

The story is full of ironies. Horus members consider themselves above humanity, but act in a definitely human fashion: They are self-centered, prideful, greedy, lying and murdering propaganda producers. A narcissistic young super risks his life fighting to defend mankind. And the end solution is pure irony.

Grant Morrison’s script does more than provide exposition and move the story forward. There’s plenty of poetry. “Let me tell you what happens when dreams get loose: They’re like wild animals running madly and devouring everything in sight.”

The ironic ending is a bit squishy and is not well explained (although it preceded a similar but better-explained resolution used in an episode of the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1993). Morrison is a good plotter but can go off the rails when trying to mix metaphysics and science (see his Return of Bruce Wayne mini-series for that problem writ large).

Steve Yeowell is a master storyteller, with art reminiscent of John Byrne only looser. Panels bleed into one another with dynamic effect. Backgrounds could have been more detailed, but it’s a small complaint. Hart’s coloring is years ahead of its time, achieving the airbrush look that is so common today.

Overall Zenith Phase Four feels a little Watchman lite, a very interesting story, worth reading despite its flaws.

Reviewer: Joe Lovece
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker