Comic books can express everything, not just energy blasts. It’s a power well understood by the BBC. As one of the world’s greatest broadcasters of information (instead of optic blasts or whatever), they commissioned “The Key” to express the sentiment of their “freedom2014” season. A task it achieves without words. And for free.
It’s a glorious piece of work by Grant Morrisson and Rian Hughes. That first image paints the picture of an authoritarian future far better than many entire movies. The whole thing is only 38 images long, a single scrolling webpage, and loaded with more powerful imagery than some government spy satellites. Because it works for the other side.
It takes less time to read this than to update your facebook. When a television company commissions a comic for their news-text website, it’s something special, and as comic book fans we’re always delighted to see the artform expressed in new venues. We’ve been collecting comics for decades, and the best thing about them is that there will always be new ones in places we never expected.