Under-Earth by Chris Gooch Review

In a hollowed-out landfill sits a horrific prison city teeming with prisoners and Stormtrooper-esque guards. The latest inmate, the hapless Reece, luckily stumbles across a friendly giant, Malcolm, and the two become friends - but will their friendship withstand the brutal prison culture? Elsewhere, a pair of thieves plan one last heist for a map out of this place in a desperate attempt at freedom.

Aussie cartoonist Chris Gooch’s third book, Under-Earth, is an ambitious, nearly 600-page comic that wasn’t as good as I’d hoped but was still pretty decent.

What’s surprising is that, given the length of the book, how underdeveloped the world is and how relatively simple the story is. Are all the buildings in the landfill already, or were they dropped in, or was the landfill simply a former city? How did they build that secret gladiatorial arena without the guards knowing or without machinery?

One of the set-pieces involves stealing a valuable plant from the deputy warden - but why would the villain say that the deputy warden would pay whatever they ask to have the stolen plant returned when the guards can so easily overpower the prisoners and they must know the villain is the kingpin of the prisoner populace and the only one with the resources to pull off something like this?

It wouldn’t bother me that much if there was a strong point to the story but there isn’t. Overpopulation/authoritarianism/environmental damage will turn us all into prisoners and hanging onto shreds of our humanity under extreme pressure is hard? I don’t know. The ending is underwhelming because nothing much has changed for our protagonists - life is still terrible for them. It’s very unsatisfying.

Still, it’s grimly fascinating and, though pointless, the characters’ stories were entertaining enough with plenty of exciting action - it’s never a boring read, just an unimpressive one. And I enjoyed Gooch’s artwork which was very expressive and brought his dark world to life well. The layouts are perfect too - he’s a terrific cartoonist who totally understands how to tell a story sequentially.

Though not as evocative as his debut Bottled, Under-Earth isn’t a bad comic and, besides fans of this cartoonist, might appeal to indie comics fans who enjoy dystopian sci-fi.