Orphan Black: Deviations #1 –
IDW Publishing
Written by Heli Kennedy
Art by Wayne Nichols
Colors by Sebastian Cheng
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Story Edits by Mackenzie Donaldson
IDW has been giving fans a chance to see something that they often wonder about with anything they love…an alternate reality. Ever since the Deviations stories have come out, there have been several unique “what if?” scenarios, but I never thought this would be one of them. Orphan Black is one of those shows I discovered later than the rest of the world, which means I’ve been playing catch up ever since. So I had to see what ride IDW had planned for this story.
(WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD for anyone who has not watched the pilot episode of Orphan Black.)
This particular Deviation explores what would have happened if Beth Childs never committed suicide and was saved by Sarah Manning. Things start out very much like the TV pilot, with Sarah still trying to get her life straight and Beth who’s life is very much in flux. When Sarah saves Beth at the train station it sets off a chain of events with the clones and gives us information that I do not remember getting in the original story (not this early anyway.) It’s also very interesting to see where Beth fits in the group dynamic and appears to bring even more paranoia to the group that is already rightfully paranoid. Their reaction to Sarah is the biggest part of this story, and for Orphan Black fans, may be quite surprising. In the last few pages of the book, it’s actually quite interesting who seems feel the least threatened by her. For that reason, this first issue ends on a very tense confrontation.
Unlike most Deviations books, this is not a one-shot, it’s a six issue series. Rightfully so, because there is so much story to tell here. We don’t even really get halfway into the plot of the pilot episode, but we do get introduced to the majority of the principle players. Some things are the same, with a slightly different approach. Without spoiling anything, there are certain things that remain unchanged, but end up happening through different circumstances. It’s very interesting to see where things go in this next issue and how much this book starts to separate from the original story. I will say that if you’ve never seen Orphan Black, you will not be able to appreciate what’s going on as much. The story is still interesting, as are the characters, but you’ll be far more invested if you’re a fan of the show. As someone who is, I’ll be very interested to find out more about how Beth’s relationships will be different with certain characters now that Beth is actually alive. It’s something I think any fan of the show would enjoy.
RATING: PULL / BUY