But, as both Nika and William are going to discover, there’s much more to Trillium than that.īarring his work-for-hire New 52 comics which are uniformly terrible, I’m a big fan of Jeff Lemire’s work. Suddenly Nika discovers herself transported to 1921 where she meets William Pike, a former soldier suffering from PTSD, on a exploration mission to South America where he and his group are hunting for a flower that could potentially grant immortality.

Just as The Caul begins to make it’s way to their spacelab, Nika’s gets a break and the Atabithians invite her in to sample Trillium - with unexpected results. On a distant planet called Atabithi, botanist Nika Tensmith believes she has found the cure in a native flower called Trillium but needs to win over the inhabitants, who protect their crop within a temple compound, to harvest enough for a cure. A sentient virus called The Caul is wiping us out and only a few thousand humans remain, pushed far away from Earth in a desperate bid for survival. In the 38th century humanity is on the ropes. I know that this is the Lemire style - and it is an original, idiosyncratic one for sure. unfortunately 1 star docked because I found the art to be almost unbearably ugly. Amazing!ĭespite the admirably naked emotion on display, all of the intelligence and creativity, the brilliance of Trillium's design. We follow their separate but linked narratives panel by panel, one atop the other (you literally have to turn the comic upside down to read the bottom narrative), one starting when the other is ending, the separate panels commenting on the panel above or below. The design is brilliant, with the pièce de résistance being the central issue, where time is started anew and characters trade places. Science fiction and alternate timelines, done darkly. Narrative winding and collapsing in upon itself, turned inside out. If you like love stories, this still may not be for you.

If you don't like love stories, avoid this. Trillium is above all things a love story. If you like a little Gaudi, a little Sarah Winchester, a lot of whimsy, a folly disguised as a building, hallways crooked and doors that resist opening and when they do, sometimes lead to nowhere. If you like straightforward constructions, architecture that is pleasing to the eye and that makes sense, a building that is not pretending to be anything other than a building, hallways straight and doors easily opened.

Trillium by jeff lemire