Jeff Lemire’s head-trip ode to science fiction, aka Trillium, converges in an unexpected way. This ten part series has been a Zappa-level mind-screw since issue one, and Lemire is not done taking us on the trip. Trillium #4 takes the pain of war, suffering, survival, and dedication and filters it through the two main protagonists. Time may shift back and forth, war and catastrophe may be raining down around them, but these two strangers, thrust together via time and space, are dedicated to each other through all of it.
If you have not read Trillium #1-3, I urge you to before stepping into #4. Lemire is not interested in easy ins or outs here – he wants you to be invested for the entire story. The future world, the one where humanity is down to a few thousand thanks to an intellectual virus, has come to steal the cure, also know as the Trillium flower, from the peaceful creatures who harvest it on their planet. The center of their civilization is a structure that looks like a Mayan Temple. Within that temple, our two main heroes Nikia and William are trying to make sense of it all.
Nikia is from our future, William is from our past, the 1930s to be exact. Nikia is a scientist, scarred by the military bullying of a race whose acceptance she has worked hard for. William is scarred by what he saw in World War I. For different reasons, fate has led them to a Mayan Temple, one on Earth in the early part of the twentieth century, the other on a distant planet, where Trillium grows with wild abandon. Our future military has invaded this planet, looking to take the healing flower at all costs. William’s brother, who was traveling to the Mayan ruins with William, has been pushed into the future side of things, and is now being interrogated by a military that does not understand him.
Lemire builds Trillium #4 to a fantastic climax, one that leaves the next six issues completely in the mind of the writer. You can’t take any glimmer of the future away from the final panel – it’s just hopeful that Nikia and William’s story will continue. Whatever happens, Lemire is going to pump the gas on the head-trip, same as he did with Sweet Tooth.
Trillium’s art continues to be handled by Lemire, which I think works best for the series. The total control he has over both story and art makes for a much more complete immersion into this world. Everything happening here comes from Lemire’s mind, so it work best for him to show it to us through his eye. The pencils might be rough to the comic book purist, but for those of us who championed the ’60s underground comic book culture, the artwork is wonderful.
Jeff Lemire has talent he hasn’t even tapped yet. Trillium is another step forward in his becoming one of the most original storytellers around.
(5 Story, 4 Art)
