Trillium

In this sci-fi tale of star-crossed lovers, author and illustrator Jeff Lemire finds importance in the minutia and the grand alike. This edition of the Eisner Award-nominated eight-issue Trillium series twists time and reality in the tale of a male soldier from 1921 and a female scientist from 3797 who inexplicably meet and are thrust into an adventure, the outcome of which threatens their lives and all of humanity. Lemire's painted panels give off an ethereal, dreamlike quality that elevates the love story between the two to epic proportions. An early full-page panel shows the lovers connecting under a starry sky, the stars splattered across a black expanse as if the characters' love froze the always-moving universe. Lemire's creative use of the medium occasionally has readers turning the book upside down—emphasizing the story's chaos or parallel structure—but it's his use of dialogue and silence between characters who speak different languages that really highlights the artist's powers as a storyteller. Speech balloons filled with alien script and Lemire's tendency to switch between equally confused perspectives within a scene enhance the effect and give readers even more information. Trillium works as retro sci-fi, galactic love story and a jungle adventure, but most important, it's a human story with human emotions capable of spanning time and space.