There’s an incredible timeliness to Estimate of the Situation’s release, given that it features US Government awareness of – and response to – UFO sightings.

There’s also a remarkable usage of real life documents and sightings, which more than once had me heading for my search ending just to make sure that the lines between fantasy and reality weren’t simply being skilfully blurred.

Spoiler alert: they weren’t. To the extent that fictionalisation is used in Estimate of the Situation, it’s certainly not in the documents that pertain to genuine, historic UFO sightings.

The narrative itself jumps around a little; after a lengthy, text-based introduction by noted UFOlogist Graeme Rendall, we’re straight back to the dawn of time, at least in biblical terms, with an absolutely stunning, silent prologue sequence illustrated by Matias Villalba.

Here we see the original sin coming to fruition (pun intended), before jumping ahead in time to 1948 – where we meet a military man who’s haunted by what he’s seen – and perhaps what he’s done.

What comes next begins to fill in the blanks, using official documents and witness statements to strengthen the narrative, with waves of UFO sightings causing deep paranoia and panic in the US Military – with events taking a seriously dark turn by the climax of this issue.

It can’t be stressed enough how the deep research and usage of real situations helps with just how compelling Estimate of the Situation is; there are even passages which stress, in narrative text, that what we’re reading really did happen as reported.

Though we usually have only single witnesses for this, if you do happen to investigate the incidents for yourself, you’ll find that the evidence and testimony is definitely credible.

Which really does help to cement the narrative as both riveting and believable.

Estimate of the Situation is a remarkable creation; it feels both timely, as previously mentioned, and rich in historic information that the average reader is unlikely to be aware of.

That it’s wrapped up in a narrative that’s compelling all on its own is a triumph too, with writers Tom Orzechowski and John Zoitos, ably assisted by Ezequiel Anastasia’s phenomenal art. The muted colour scheme, in contrast to the bold bursts of colour in the prologue – also helps to give the feel of a non-sensationalised, yet dramatic and sometimes disturbing look at the historic reaction to increasingly frequent and concerning UFO sightings.

It’s a phenomenal opening issue that really does capture the attention of the reader, blowing the mind with a skilful interweaving of reality and, one suspects, only lightly fictionalised scenes to bring the narrative together.

In doing so, it brilliantly sets up the rest of the series – which any reader of the first issues is likely to find impossible to ignore.

You can buy Estimate of the Situation #1 – and more issues – directly from Black Tie Labs.

Many thanks to Black Tie Labs for providing me with a copy of the first issue of Estimate of the Situation for review purposes.

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