It’s very rare for a comic to have such a profound effect on me that I have to sit back afterwards and take a deep breath. That’s how powerful this first issue of Echoes was; I knew what the premise of the series was, and knew what to expect from the first chapter, but that didn’t prepare me for just how shocked I would be by the execution. Joshua Hale Fialkov has penned the start of what could be one of the most interesting comic book series in recent memory; the story itself is mostly build-up towards the big reveal on the final page, but within a few pages Fialkov gives you a sense of just how each character deals with one another and how disturbing the reveal at the end really is for such normal people. The black-and-white art by Rahsan Ekedal is wonderfully scratchy and intense, and the lack of colour makes it feel more diluted and raw; every page of the book feels creepy and mysterious, and the subtlety in the art shows an individual who could one day become a big name, if not in mainstream comics then in the independent scene. As a first issue, this was about as perfect as it gets, combining a solid sense of mystery and scale with characters who engage and a concept that feels fresh and ever so unsettling.