In a world full of amazing comics you tend to miss a few opportunities to read some stellar series, Assorted Crisis Events happens to be one of those books for me. While I missed out on the monthly read, it was the year-end lists that called attention to the Deniz Camp scribed and Eric Zawadzki illustrated series that made me want to take a look. Damn, I was missing out on one of the better comics of 2025.
Time is having a crisis. Mingling in the red-light district, you can find actual cavemen, medieval knights, and cyborg soldiers on leave from World War IV. Victorian debutantes amble their way into cell phone stores, confused and bewildered (what is a data plan?). On their way to work, bleary-eyed commuters get trapped in time-loops, assaulted by alternate-reality versions of themselves, and try to avoid post-apocalyptic wastelands. And LOOK: the 3:15 bus just took a wrong turn… into the neolithic era.
There are an only a select few anthology, one-shot style series that really work, such as Ice Cream Man. I feel as Assorted Crisis Events is one of those series. Having five different tales with the basis of life in crisis with a single character popping up in each story made for a great series of stellar stories, so good that I wanted more from each and every one. Each tale, my favorites being chapter one and three, are extremely thought-provoking and at times deeply emotional.
While Camp never really reveals why the collapse of time and space is happening, it’s the result of said collapse that is the key here. Seeing how people deal with the repercussions of the events and how they handle crisis is the real focus. How would you handle such situations if they were sprung on you in real life. A comic series that makes you think long and hard about how the world is today and where we are headed as a society. Stories beyond simple superhero adventures or horror tropes, a series of short stories with through-provoking events.
The stories themselves hit hard for me, but it’s not just the words and plot that made this series what it is. The illustrations by Zawadzki with colors by Jordie Bellaire and letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou is what completes this collection. Each tale is unique in narrative, but also has a style of artwork which sets it apart from its neighbors. This allows for such an amazing reading experience. I am not sure if I got more out of this different art style reading it in collected form and not monthly, but it worked so well and was exactly what I needed.
Assorted Crisis Events is one of those collections of stories that hits harder than you’d expect. Deniz Camp scripts a series of tales that are as thought-provoking as they are emotionally resonate. Eric Zawadzki takes these tales to the next level with unique artwork in each chapter, giving a real sense of passion to this collection. I was late to the game, but am super pumped we get a second volume.
The collected edition Assorted Crisis Events Vol. 1 hit local comic shops on September 17, 2025 from Image Comics.
Assorted Crisis Events Vol. 1 Preview
