TRILLIUM by Jeff Lemire

"My father used to tell me that we were all made of stars. That each of us had one inside us and when we die, that light goes up and mixes with all the other stars. That way we never have to be alone. 'Cause no matter what happens, we all end up together."

Jeff Lemire continues to impress me with his complete control over the comic book medium and his refusal to be constrained by its conventions, limitations, and what people have come to expect. What he does here is assemble a romance between a scientist in the year 3797 who's looking for a cure to prevent a sentient virus know as The Caul from exterminating what's left of mankind and an explorer in 1921 searching for a secret Incan temple in the jungle. It's a mind-boggling, millennia-spanning love story that crosses galaxies, parallel universes, and the limits of time, while somehow still managing to be grounded in character. And it's all told with Lemire's usual expressive watercolor art and creative paneling that favors the story's structure. It's like Interstellar meets The Fountain, and thoroughly enjoyable.

GRADE: A-