Review: Biotope #1

An old school whodunit set in an advanced space exploration backdrop.

The prime movers for Biotope #1, is a Homicide investigation team, comprised of three Detectives: Captain Toussaints, as the lead; Langevins, second in Command; and what seems to be the only female in the story so far, Eunics Rouget. The Team have been sent to investigate a murder suicide, on an off earth Closed ecological system, home to a high-profile, secure biological experiment ,called Biotope that can take up to a month to travel to.
The investigation doesn’t goes as smooth they hoped, of course, most of the scientist just will not cooperate, and the ones that might always seem to be offsite on a mission, or just plain missing. Except for maybe one guy, but he’s either just pitching woo on the job, or maybe he’s crazy, but then that would be par for course for most of the characters.Â Within two days of arriving on base, the detectives come to the conclusion that something strange is happening inside the Biotope and that the body count may actually be higher.

The narrative to Biotope #1 is a masterpiece, whose mystery is shrouded in the unknown and the unfamiliar, so much so that when the veil of the true plot unfoldÂ Â s,Â it sneaks upon you with the obvious. Every detail is a Chekhov’s gun there’s nothing in here, that is mentioned.that is not utilized that does not eventually come in the play. A red Herring is is the element of time, in that they only have one month to figure out the case , or the murder will get away or they will have to stay there for six months.Â There are some hints that there wasÂ some time type of ecological disaster on Earth, thus the need for a Biotope off Earth.

As for the art , by BRÃœNO and colored by Laurence Croix though it does match the characters designed, it doesnt really match the subject matter , which catches you off guard. In other panels it has this 70s psychedelic look the colors are amazing but otherwise there wasn’t much happening Easter Egg wise in the panels.

Out of 5 stars this deserves a 5. Biotope is one of those hidden gems that is a really good read that somehow just got overlooked, but thankfully it is getting published this week so it can give everyone a second look.Â Without a doubt, this is my candidate for the read of the week.

SCORE: 5/5

Written by: Appollo
Art by: BRÃœNO
Colorist: Laurence Croix
Published by: Europe Comics

Digitally released: Â August 8 2017