The Deep by Tom Taylor is a hilarious family adventure about the Nekton family, a group of energetic deep-sea divers. Yes, the same Tom Taylor who writes devastatingly emotional and graphic stories with DC characters for Injustice: Gods Among Us can write some of the best family-friendly original tales out there today. Also, The Deep has done for comics what The Incredibles by Pixar did for movies, and that is introduce a great, original family and just tell extraordinary tales about them. The Nekton family is a great cast of fleshed out, likable characters that are featured in The Deep.
The Deep’s characters are easily and quickly introduced in the first volume, Here Be Dragons as they are presented with a very outlandish sounding tale. Here Be Dragons presents the Nekton family piece-by-piece as they are all gathered on the submarine doing their own thing, and their personalities are quickly established by their tone, humor and reactions to each other. For example, Will, the oldest, is very specific on which maps he reads due to older ones being having more clues towards adventure. However, the quick introduction of all the characters and personalities are helped by James Brouwer’s extremely charming artwork that perfectly captures realistic and mostly hilarious facial expressions for the characters in several panels.
The Deep is also full of wonderful running gags that span throughout both graphic novels, and hopefully even the upcoming animated series by Technicolor Co. In addition to them spanning throughout, not only are they amusing gags, but also hints to plot points that come well ahead in Tom Taylor’s graphic novel that may surprise you, accompanied once again by James Brouwer’s exceptional artwork that perfectly capture the moments needed for these small events.
After writing and establishing the wonderful characters and events in Here Be Dragons, Tom Taylor continued to explore the world of The Deep with a sequel, The Vanishing Island. Once again published by Gestalt Comics, an island is “completely not hit by a tsunami” which leads to one of the biggest mysteries in the deep sea. However, this time Tom focuses more on the story and drops a pinch of enthralling moments into the usual batch of humor and adventure. James Brouwer’s wonderful, layered and adventurous art returns in phenomenal form that completely compliments Taylor’s writing. This installment of The Deep will metaphorically keep you on the edge of your seat throughout while laughing and crying with the wonderful characters. Whilst Tom’s story has a great conclusion that wraps most things up, he also delivers a cliffhanger that will leave you wanting more like an addict suffering from withdrawal.
All-in-all, The Deep embodies exactly what is needed for an all-ages family tale, something that may certainly be lost in mainstream comics today. The Deep is suspenseful, hilarious, heartwarming and makes me feel the same way I felt when I first saw The Incredibles. The second volume is out NOW in the United States, so ask your local comic shop to order it. Also, The Deep has been optioned as a CGI animated television series by Technicolor Co., so keep a look out for that as well!
The Deep is an absolute must-have if you want a great, adventurous tale. It will also help get the younger people in your life into comics with these wild and imaginative characters and tales.
5 out of 5 stars