The Surgeon comes from one of my favorite indie comic publishers, Unlikely Heroes Studios. With its fifth issue, now’s a good time to give a recommendation/review. Because I have experience with just about every post-apocalypse story and this series does something a little different. It’s not the chanbara, western, and rock music influences influences. What drives me towards this series is how despite the bleakness, there’s a chance to recover from the apocalypse.
Meet The Surgeon
This series revolves around the titular character’s adventures 15 years after a societal apocalypse. Jenny Hanover comes across as your typical hardnose trying to do her part to help out people. But what makes this physician stand out is despite her ideals for people to thrive, she comes across as someone who can’t be a part of that world. With her pulpy backstory, the reader can understand what leads her to this depiction. But here’s the part readers will experience via some of the villagers she comes across. Despite the apocalypse happening less than a generation, not everybody is a gritty survivor; some of the villagers are outright scared of the physician.
Hanover herself isn’t the easiest person to get along with. While her prowess and medical skills make her invaluable, she’s carrying a lot weight she tries to unload on others. Some of them like the Turtle Island medic hopeful aren’t ready to carry those burdens.
Why The Apocalypse Doesn’t Mean The End
Unlike the iconic post-apocalypses trying to live up to the legacy of Mad Max, The Surgeon isn’t in a hopeless setting. From the first few pages, the greater world seems to be a typical Fallout scenario, but with a twist. So far there’s no mention on how society fell apart, but maybe that’s to this series’ benefit. If anything, these pages mock how much those genre codifiers sensationalize the world ending. Aside from unseen environmental hazards, there’s a special focus on human society still being able to network.
One of the appeals of a scavenger world is how characters reflect the world they live in. In the first few issues, we have a town that somehow still has access to Craigslist. Or at least still has the idea in the form of raising flags. Heck this series first setting of Turtle Island Fort is apparently an anomaly. The land is rich with resources and can survive twisters that come close. Also the people aren’t out for themselves with a phrase “word is bond” as a motto. It’s what allows characters like the smithy to express himself with an old-timey dialect and make weapons as an art form. Not to mention a celebration for the tiny miracles like a doctor.
Now For The Downers…
Which brings us to some hard truths surrounding such a place. Turtle Island Fort is not used to conflicts and they aren’t very good in battle or medicine. Just the operation Hanover does on a child makes people look sick. Thus these people can come across as spoiled by their luck, in spite of their work to cultivate the land. Even Dave Rogers, the Fort’s master-of-arms isn’t much a military man despite his Marine training. When getting a taste of real battle, he became an opium addict to cope with the trauma. Now imagine everyone’s shock as they see Hanover not even flinch at the Mad Max-like carnage.
Imagine again if a person from our world actually sees a post-apocalypse. This is another appeal of The Surgeon, the fort’s attempts to recover or preserve an older world connects readers to the setting. Through the villagers of Turtle Island, readers truly experience the hard grim-and-gritty life outside of their comfort zones. Including but definitely not limited to what a post-apocalypse can mean for others.
The Surgeon: First Nations United
One other major group of characters in The Surgeon are the First Nations United. Getting out of the story a bit; who here has heard of the Standing Rock protests? That might give you an idea on what this big group of the Teton Sioux have going. With society practically over, the reservations that all but held them prisoner vanish. But unlike the Fort, these Sioux United still had to deal with the world’s harshest. Now they have a bigger right to call out the people who benefited from their oppression. Plus I found out that Turtle Island has cultural importance to the Sioux; so who’s to say the fort’s land isn’t part of their home? For the First Nations, the end of the old world would feel like a new opportunity to fully reestablish themselves.
But that doesn’t seem to be the case for Little Bird. Despite being in his early 30s, he comes across as a troubled teen without direction. It’s what makes his dynamic with Hanover so notable. While Hanover is attracted to Little Bird, to the point of losing coherence, Little Bird resents her for being the warrior he always wanted to be. Even though Little Bird is more focused on dying a warrior after an aimless life. Their spiritual beliefs on life and death is really something to look forward too.
The Art Endures
Now’s probably a good time to talk about the art in The Surgeon. While John Pence, Everardo Orozco, and Erek Foster remain consistent as writer, colorist, and letterer; the pencilers have to change for various circumstances. The series initial penciler was UH Studios’ founder Zack Dolan up until his untimely death. Dolan’s penciling has two forms that make his art great for comics. Part of the time, they have pin-up like details to make a big impression. Otherwise Dolan’s simpler stylization helps gives the foreground and background as much character as possible. The people feel so lively even when they play the most minor role.
Issue 3 of the series has Stan Yak as penciler who provides a fittingly rough and action heavy style. Amid a big battle, having sequences that are fluid and dynamic can increase the excitement. Like the way the village help, Abner smoothly grabs Hanover through a tumbling motion amid a war zone. Besides seeing the Hot Animal Machine death cult look so gritty fits their overall aesthetic.
Now let’s go to Issue 4’s artist Omar Zaldivar. Zaldivar uses a more cinematic art style especially with the use of widescreens that look like a camera’s moving around. Plus the way some characters present themselves says a lot about their position. The way Rogers’ shadow looks like it’s judging him for his opium addiction says a lot about shame. Then there’s the brief action sequence Hanover has with a new character. In just three panels, it’s like Hanover loses control over the situation for the first time.
The Surgeon Pulp Novella
While we’re on the topic of issue 4, I should mention a series prequel story that’s included with it. With how John Pence writes this segment, it is very much a tribute to comics’ predecessors, pulp magazines; plus the illustrations by Jon Kutzer evoke plenty for the reader’s imagination. In it, readers get a chance to get into the head of Dr. Hanover.
With the comic presenting Hanover as this force of nature with a human heart, To Serve In Hell shows her becoming that hardcore survivor. She used to have somebody to take care of, to the point of being part of a warlord’s harem. I don’t know if this Sean is her family or more than a friend, but Hanover does suffer indignities to keep him alive. The most intense feeling comes from how the threats on Sean’s life are from a distance via radio. Readers get the same sense of uncertainty as Hanover, having to imagine her oppressor’s muscle with just a description. As well as all of the frustrations she has to deal with until an opportunity arises.
If there are any more chapters of this origin, readers might just wait with anticipation for another. Because what becomes of Sean after this?
Don’t Typecast The Apocalypse
The Surgeon is one of those titles that will define Unlikely Heroes Studios. The creatives challenge some of the genres they love to make something new. In this series, it’s how despite society crumbling, it’s not always about fight-or-flight. Sometimes it’s about challenging societies’ expectations on how people should act. People are human, but that doesn’t have to mean factionalizing. It also means having the ability to accept harsh realities by respecting the will to thrive. As of now, this series gets 8.5/10.