In Review: The Boat Volume 1

The Boat Volume 1 - Cover

Writer and Creator: Dave Lumsden
Art: Mark Weallans
Additional Artwork: Tammy Le Vasan and Andrei Staruiala
Lettering and Cover: Andrei Staruiala

Recommended for mature readers

The Book: The Boat is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the ice caps have melted and society is breaking down. The safety net of technology is all but a distant memory and people are left to survive by the strength of their arm and their wits. In this volume, the story is stripped down to a father and son having to survive in an environment that neither expected, but both must try to survive.

The Boat: The Rules of Survival

The Review: This truly is a stark story. The black and white bleakness of Mark Weallans’ art just helps to pull you in deeper until you have nowhere to swim to but the end of the story. I was gripped from page 1 and I am so glad that Dave Lumsden sent me Volume Two for review at the same time or there would have been a couple of snotty emails asking where the second volume was!

Based on the eponymous CGI-meets-live-action film about a very personal apocalypse that debuted at last year’s Glasgow Film Festival, this is one of the better post-apocalyptic stories that you will find – and I found it most enjoyable that I could find the echoes of past tales within. The two stories that it reminds me of most is “Disaster 1990” from the pages of 2000AD, crossed with the devastation evident in Neil Marshall’s 2008 movie Doomsday. The scary bit is that Dave is far too young to have seen Bill Savage’s early adventures.

This is one of the few times where I am disappointed that I am not a professional critic so that I can praise this tale using the terms that would sell this to you the discerning reader. This really is that well written a story.

The Boat: Never Asked This

Many will compare this comic to the film The Road and while I can see the influences (and the film makers have acknowledged them), for me, it is not the strongest influence on the look or the narrative of this tale. I was engrossed with this tale from cover to cover and while many will see some of the plot twists, I recommend keeping an open mind until the last page is turned.

• Hard copies of The Boat Vilume One are currently available at the Edinburgh branches of Forbidden Planet and Blackwell Books

• E-copies can either be ordered through Comixology here, through Kindle here or directly from David Lumsden’s site here

And a trailer of the film short The Boat can be viewed here on the film’s official web site



Categories: British Comics

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