Review: Indestructible Universe Quarterly

Indestructible Universe Quarterly by Morgan Pielli

Review by James Maddox

Rating (Out of Five):

These days, it takes a good deal to gain the attention of a comic reader with only three or four pages. It’s bad enough to create a story that hooks with an engaging premise, but to put a limited page count on the prestige of a tale, that takes not only creativity, but technique as well. Morgan Pielli has succeeded where others have tried and failed. In his quarterly zine, Indestructible Universe Quarterly, Pielli has made it his mission to entertain his readers with the bizarre, the surreal, the spectacular.

Running a current six issues, Indestructible Universe’s stories run a very loose gamut of subject focus, genre choice, and length. All his stories are strange in the best way possible, but none are strange in the same way any other found in the publication.

In IUQ number one, the pages contain a creation myth, the return of God, and a commentary of the death penalty… in space. Issue three gives us “Dogtown Voices”, which tells an allegorical tale of the familiar conflicts surrounding racism. Finally, in issue three, Pielli’s work “Driftwood” makes its first appearance and becomes a continuous tale that begins to stretch throughout the issues of IUQ

The most compelling thing about IUQ is the way that its tales sneak up on the reader. For the most part, these stories are merely engaging and entertaining, leaving the reader with a satisfied afterglow. Though it happens many times that the ideas and images Pielli employs catches you off guard, and the ideas that the author/artist brings up stick with you for hours after the final page is turned.

This aspect of Pielli’s storytelling made IUQ a glorious find. In a convention full of talent, these tales triumph in both story and art—also the design of each issue is highly stylized and should be considered a work of art in its own right.

I don’t waste my time reading half-hearted attempts at storytelling. Pielli’s work is the real deal, and hopefully, a great number of people will join me in discovering his work, giving him the ability to keep Indestructible Universe Quarterly a quarterly publication. Well worth the money, and then some.

You can find more about Morgan Pielli at www.morganpielli.com.