There is something unsettling about cosmic horror and space terror that, when properly investigated, may lead to compelling fiction. The concept of being alone in the middle of nowhere, with no one to help you amid the vastness of space, and facing an unknown threat is a tantalizing prospect. We have enjoyed the brilliance of Alien and Predator films, liked the spine-chilling premise of Dead Space, and there are far too many other names that have piqued the interest of horror enthusiasts.
With his disturbing comic book Caliban, Garth Ennis has added a superb addition to the history of cosmic horror stories. With his work in the Punisher comics and others, he has already made a name for himself, and his ability to play with dread is well-known. This Avatar Press mini-series is a tribute to the great Swiss artist H.R. Giger, who sculpted the Alien species. The story is also influenced by the Lovecraftian dread that kept us awake for many nights.
Garth Ennis pulls plot aspects from films like Alien and others in this genre, but he also adds some uniqueness to the scenario. This is what makes the familiar premise of becoming lost in space so compelling, and the comic book series is a must-read for deep-space horror lovers. In this movie, we take you on a voyage down the Lovecraftian highway, with a horrific peril lurking around every turn, as we explore the mind-scarring content of Caliban.
A Routine Journey turns into a nightmare
The story is set in a futuristic world, where traveling through space using wormholes is nothing unusual. The narrative comes from the perspective of Nomi, one of the crew members aboard the Caliban. Space missions are usually conducted in search of new inhabitable spaces in the universe. While the inhabitable part has not been found, the expeditions have unearthed a massive source of minerals, oil, gas, and water. Caliban is on one of these expeditions, and they are carrying hundreds of miners who are traveling in stasis, in their sleep chambers.
The journey through infinity is not for everyone to handle. Even the crew members, who are trained to comprehend the concept of traveling through space for indefinite periods of time, sometimes tend to lose their minds. This spaceship has a few crew members in charge of the ship, and they expect nothing unusual in their route. Such travel is routine for all of them, and even the officer in charge seems to be complacent and relaxed. There is a guy named Karien, who seems to be rather odd and no one seems to be too fond of him.
The officer in charge is busy elsewhere, and just as Nomi and some other crew members debate about the controls of the spaceship, the unthinkable happens. They seem to have crashed into something and everyone is thrown off balance. What is most surprising is that such a collision is impossible during such travels! Once they gather their composure, they soon realize the true extent of the damage.
The impact of the collision has opened up the bay, and the mining crew drifts off in space, in their sleep chambers, about to embrace certain death. The surviving crew members of Caliban, watch helplessly as there is no way to save them. They realize that they have collided with something that seems like another spaceship, and the impact seems to have fused the two ships together. Nomi is accompanied by another crew member named San, and they head off to check the damage. They are shocked to find that many of the crew members have been killed on impact.
They find one who is impaled, and many others seem to have been crushed as the two ships fused together. Another crew member explores a hatch, and he finds an alien creature that seems to have been mummified for a very long time. It turns into dust when touched, and this proves the point that the creature was long dead.
Meanwhile, it is learned that some crew members are still trapped and alive, but they run the risk of running out of air soon! Karien himself is running out of air, but his response is cold and we begin to doubt his intentions. San and Nomi decide to explore further below the decks, but they aren’t too sure what they will find. Will it be more of their familiar spaceship Caliban, or will they witness more the alien spacecraft that is weirdly fused with the Caliban after the collision!
The Crisis Worsens
Nomi and San find more of the mutilated bodies of the crew members, many of whom have been crushed and impaled beyond recognition. They try to identify the bodies and keep a body count while trying to assess the extent of the damage. They communicate with one of the crew members above and keep relaying their findings. The two ships have merged in such a way that they can just walk into the decks of the other ship, and everything out there is unfamiliar. Nomi starts to panic, while San seems more composed and tries to calm her down. You can’t really blame Nomi, can you! It is not every day that the most bizarre accident takes place in space, and there is no help coming to their rescue.
Suddenly, they come across a horrifying sight! There is a chamber that is filled with tiny eggs containing some form of alien life. The alien creatures inside look like a mutilated octopus, only with more tentacles and a hollow mouth that seems to be covered by sharp teeth.
Nomi accidentally opens one of the hatches, and she is shocked to find one of the creatures landing on her. Luckily, the creatures are all dead, and they seem to have been dead for quite a while, going by the smell of preservatives. It turns out that they were being preserved in their chambers, and San pulls an unsettled Nomi out from under the creature. It seems like the dead creature gave birth all over her, and San reasons that it could have happened because the alien creature was pregnant when it was preserved.
The shocked duo soon reunites with other surviving crew members. Their discussions throw up some new facts and we learn that the communication systems are the weakest at the point of intersection between the two vessels. Only twelve crew members have survived out of thirty on board, and they have lost all the ninety miners who were in cryo-sleep. They also have another major issue – the Caliban is running out of oxygen.
The other spaceship doesn’t have any air, and with every corridor opening up, the air distribution is getting scarce. Even though Caliban still seems to produce oxygen, the captain is worried that it might not be enough for long. The captain comes up with an unusual solution, but possibly the only one that can get them out alive. Since the engines and most systems of the Caliban have been destroyed, the ship is running on backup power. Now, the only way out is to make use of the engines and systems of the alien ship and treat the whole thing as one large vessel.
The engineer in the crew is skeptical because he knows nothing about the alien ship’s mechanics, but even he realizes that it is the only option left for them to try. The captain also orders everyone to stick together and not venture out into the other ship alone. Clearly, there is a lot about the other ship that is still not known and the Caliban has lost way too many lives already!
Suddenly, Karien appears out of nowhere and attacks the captain who is isolated. If only he took his own orders seriously! Karien seems disoriented and he is clearly out of his mind. During the brutal attack, he stomps on the victim’s head and throws him down an opening to his death! The readers are left wondering what went wrong with him, and if this behavior is an indication of things to come!
What’s the deal with Karien?
Things don’t get any better for the crew of Caliban. Nomi and another crew member named Malik are placed in the cabin to keep the communication lines smooth, and Nomi is embarrassed about her earlier mistake when she panicked and almost endangered their lives. Malik seems to have a calm head on her shoulders, but other developments promising a betterment of their ordeal doesn’t seem likely. The other members of the crew soon discover that the missing captain has been killed by something that squashed his head entirely.
It is a gruesome sight, and they wonder whether what killed him is a human or an alien threat. The face has been caved in, and something seemed to enjoy this homicidal madness! The crew still doesn’t know that it is Karien behind everything, but it doesn’t take them long to find out. Another member takes charge as the captain, and they have to quickly figure a way out of this mess. Things look more hopeless when they find out that the nearest possible help is also quite far. Their distress signal would take a month to reach the closest station, and counting on help seems like a futile attempt.
The captain is accompanied by a couple of other crew members including a lady named Pierce, who is soon ambushed by Karien. He is almost robotic in his attacks, but Pierce is no noob herself! She fights back and bangs his head against the surface of the ship. However, even after such a serious injury, there seem to be no emotions from Karien. He doesn’t even look like he is in pain, and he quickly assesses his injuries and heals miraculously. His regenerative abilities leave Pierce in shock, and he attacks Pierce once again.
Back in the cabin, Nomi and Malik pick up the radio signal and Pierce screams in agony and she utters the word Karien. Malik immediately lets the others know about her situation and the threat from Karen. The captain is distraught when he hears the news, and it is revealed that he had some kind of a secret relationship with Pierce. The others already knew about this, and they force the captain to remain calm instead of storming off to get Karien.
Clearly, Karien has gone rogue, and it wouldn’t be wise to face him single-handedly. Before they can recover from the trauma of the whole situation, another crew member is picked up a shaft by Karien, and he drags him along the floor. He takes him to the place, where he kept Pierce, and one look at Pierce sends a shiver down our spine! Her body has been twisted and mutilated, and it looks like every bone in her body has been broken.
She can barely speak, but she reveals that Karien wants to test how much the human body can take! The crew member soon suffers the same fate as an expressionless Karien starts breaking his arms and legs. An agonizing scream is all that can be heard in the empty corridors of the Caliban.
But what has become of Karien? He is certainly not human anymore, and his regenerative abilities point to some supremely powerful alien force. Is his body taken over as a vessel for the alien entities? Too many questions confuse the reader at this point, and this engaging comic book keeps the narrative flowing smoothly.
The true extent of their situation dawns on the crew
After the tragic turn of events, and after losing three of the surviving crew members, the others are understandably shaken up. The captain is shown to be wondering how someone of a moderate stature as Karien could pull up one of the most heavily built crew members so effortlessly up a shaft. The survivors realize that sooner or later, Karien would be after them all. Now, the only way to escape with their lives is to find the engine room in the alien ship, and somehow make it work.
The force of Karien is obviously far superior to the surviving members, and they cannot afford to fall prey to his brute strength. The only weapon they have is a gun that one of the crew members sneakily carried into the ship, and besides this, they would have to make do with blades and sharp objects.
Meanwhile, we are greeted by the horrifying sight of Karien mutilating his own body in the room, where the multiple alien pods were seen earlier. It looks like he is modifying his body as per his requirements, and there is not the slightest hint of pain in his facial expressions.
As the crew members attempt to make one last attempt to reach the engine room, we see caution in their voices. Using a gun in a spaceship is highly risky, and in case they have to shoot, they better not miss it! As they casually discuss the origin of the name of the ship, it is revealed that the name was inspired by one of Shakespeare’s plays called The Tempest. Caliban was a monster who tried to kill his master, and ironically enough, it seems to be a similar situation here with Karien gone rogue!
With some crew members manning the main cabin, others go looking to hunt down Karien. Even a combined attack is not enough because of his superhuman strength. He effortlessly knocks down the attackers, and the crew members in the cabin find out more about the alien life in the other ship. San seems to be giving up, and in this desperate situation, nothing seems to get any better. There are only five survivors remaining, and an uncanny claustrophobic horror grips the reader by now. Will any of them make it out alive?
The Alien life form is revealed
Finally, we get the first proper idea about the alien life that is threatening everything. True to our suspicion, Karien was no more than a vessel for the aliens and worked as their slave. The remaining survivors learned about the alien species after their systems somehow interconnected. These highly advanced species are almost parasitic in nature and more like an idea. They use other organisms to further their cause and multiply aggressively.
You could say these aliens were like bodysnatchers, and Karien was simply a victim whom they mold according to their requirements. It seems like the alien species is advanced enough to work out the mechanisms of a spacecraft and space travel through wormholes. Now, their motive is certainly not to capture one single spacecraft from the Earth, but a lot bigger!
The alien parasites do not care about other species, and they are using their victims to learn more about their potential enemies. In fact, they will simply jump from one host body to another to fulfill their plans. The surviving crew members realize that the alien parasites want the same thing as them. Even they are stranded after the collision and now, they need a functioning ship to getaway.
San gives the responsibility to one of the crew members, and he dresses up in astronaut gear to take a spacewalk, where he would do the needful to sever the connection between the two ships. He heads to the point where the hulls of the two ships are joined, and suddenly Karien appears in front of him. Karien is not even dressed in appropriate gear, and yet, he is functioning just fine in space. The crew member gets punched on his face, and it ruptures the helmet. He floats away into nothingness, certainly dead from the attack.
It dawns on Malik that the alien parasite plans to head to Earth with them because that way it would have a whole planet of slaves working for the alien species. Malik seems determined to stop their ambitions as she consoles a dejected crew member. There seems to be no possibility whatsoever, and we wonder if the story will end on a pessimistic note!
The Chaos before the final showdown
Malik and San head out once again, and the former is determined to protect Nomi and foil the sinister plans of the alien species. They find the gun-like device that Karien previously used to power himself, and they plan to use it to overdose him. Now, the plan is to use the alien chemicals to overdose Karien, trap the bodysnatcher, and get back aboard the Caliban. Then, they can fire up their new engines and head home. It seems all too good to be true, but there is no harm in trying! Unfortunately, the brave efforts don’t go too far. Out of nowhere, Malik is impaled and falls to the ground.
Karien corners Nomi, and it is just the two of them now. She has nowhere to run, and Karien speaks to her for the first time. He suggests that together they have work to do, and we see that he has changed into a hideous form. His twisted, and mutilated body shows no signs of his own self, and some dark force has taken over him completely. But what can Nomi do to help him?
The final showdown
We were a bit surprised to see that Nomi was spared. Soon, we find out that Karien had spared her because he would need her to bring the Caliban back online. The plan of the alien parasite is to inhabit her body next because Karien’s body has been pushed to its limit. Nomi walks helplessly alongside Karien, but there is a sudden twist in her fate. Malik gathered her last bit of strength and injected her with the chemicals that powered her with enough strength to take on Karien. She impales his body, and this buys them some time.
The engines are powered properly, and she forces Nomi to get along without her. With time, there would be more changes to her body and she would lose control of her mind, and thus, Malik cannot accompany her on the journey. Nomi is determined not to leave alone, but Malik forces her into a sleeping pod and sends the spaceship away.
The Earth is saved from the wrath of the alien parasite, and all that remains is a menacing final battle between Malik and Karien. Since she injected her with the chemicals, she is strong enough to defeat him, and it can be assumed that she drifts away into oblivion afterward. Nomi, the dreamer, the one who had the least experience was protected by Malik who even sacrificed her life to save her and mankind from the evil alien parasites!
It takes a special kind of skill to paint the events through the actions of the characters, and this comic series does a terrific job with that. Conceptually, the story is bound to be appreciated because the idea of an alien parasite is quite interesting. We see quite a few glimpses of things that look like alien eggs and tentacled creatures, but they are all dead. They look hideous and threatening, but they are not the real threat. The actual danger comes from an entity that cannot even be perceived because it is parasitical in nature.
It uses Karien to launch some vicious attacks on the crew members. There are some morbid and gory moments throughout the narrative and we loved the innovative touch that they added to the popular old sci-fi trope of fusing people to solid objects. Many of the victims die that way, and some of the sights will remind you of the golden days of Lovecraftian horror. In fact, this comic book was a perfect fusion of Event Horizon, Dead Space, and Lovecraftian horror. If you are someone who has a taste for this genre, the Caliban comic series will be a treat for you!