This is one surreal trip!

Imagine a drug so messed up, that users 'visit' the same place while hallucinating. People, from different parts of the world, growing up in different ways, with totally different backgrounds - ethnic and economic; people who don't know each other - use the drug and then land up in the same 'place' as one another. They visualize the same area, describe it in detail and each person's account matches the others flawlessly. According to Mr. Warren Ellis, you don't have to imagine. He claims that there is actually such a drug by the name of Dimethyl Trytomine (DMT), a shamanic drug, well accounted by the works of Terrence McKenna (from whom he found out about DMT). "When you take DMT, you go to a place that is encoded within the drug itself" - the words of Mr. Ellis himself. In Dark Blue (2000, Avatar Press), Ellis teams up with Jacen Burrows (Bad World, The Courtyard, 303, Chronicles Of Wormwood) to tell the story that immediately occurred to him as soon a he read about McKenna's findings.

Dark Blue joins the long list of comics about coppers. The number of interesting comics on that list is not that long though. I'm glad to say that Dark Blue makes the cut. It starts off in typical Ellis fashion with an interrogation scene. Policeman Francis Christchurch is nearly beating  a convict to death trying to extract information about the whereabouts of one Trent Wayman. Trent is a local Keyser Söze, responsible for the death of many but making sure not to leave a fleck of evidence. Christchurch loses his mind trying to track down Wayman. He starts hallucinating and witnessing some very spectacular, surreal happenings. Perturbed by it all, the final nail comes when he goes back to the station to discover all his fellow workers and his superintendent dead. After some bizarre scenes depicting his fucked up frame of mind, Christchurch wakes up in a hospital. He sees his former partner is actually his doctor and comes to a very crude and shocking realization that he isn't in fact a policeman. It is revealed that the city, in which he was a cop, doesn't even exist! It is a place where people on a certain shamanic drug visit. Christchurch is in fact one of many CIA Operatives testing the drug. The comic then takes a drastic turn and this is where things become really interesting...

Black and white artwork works pretty well for the comic, and Jacen Burrows does a good job (TONS of Gore-filled pages, as you can see below!). I liked his work on 303 with Garth Ennis as well. Ellis tells a great story as usual. I just thought some more information on the drug and some more background on the characters would've made this a true classic. Anyhow, it made for a really good read. For the stoners, this is an excellent one to read just as soon as you've flown one. If you're down with the film, The Matrix or were a fan of Johnny Quest, I suggest you give this a try.

Recommended Music:
I was listening to Shinjuku Thief's Medea and it fit the bill perfectly. Any dark ambient with a more modern touch should do the trick, say like Sanctum or any of the Cold Meat Industry releases. If you aren't a fan, any dark film's score should do - Preferably keyboard-oriented music or symphonic stuff with minimal guitars. For folk who like trance, I think it should work out well too.