''Ocean'' is a

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

six-issue

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

, written by

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

with pencils by

Chris Sprouse Chris Sprouse (born July 30, 1966) is an Americans, American comics artist. Sprouse has worked for multiple publishers and has won two Eisner Awards for his work on ''Tom Strong'', a series he created with writer Alan Moore. Early life Chris Spro ...

and inks by

Karl Story Karl Story (born 1967) is an American comic book artist specializing in inking. He is one of the original members of Atlanta's Gaijin Studios. Over a career of almost two decades, he has worked on books such as ''Nightwing'', ''Batman'', ''Star T ...

. It was published by American company

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

under the

Wildstorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wilds ...

imprint.

Publication history

The series was originally intended to be a film script and then as a single graphic novel, leading to an absence of the traditional cliffhangers associated with monthly comics.

Plot

Set in an era "one hundred years from now", ''Ocean'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

story that tells the tale of Nathan Kane, a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

special weapons inspector, and his mission to Cold Harbor, a UN research station in orbit around

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

. The Harbor's scientists have discovered a set of nonhuman artifacts in the ocean deep below the ice that covers the moon, and further research reveals that the artifacts are the powerful weapons,

wormhole A wormhole (Einstein-Rosen bridge) is a hypothetical structure connecting disparate points in spacetime, and is based on a special Solutions of the Einstein field equations, solution of the Einstein field equations. A wormhole can be visualize ...

-based transport system, and

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...

resting place of a conquering warlike race of prehuman beings. This culture's home world was located between

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

and

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

, and in their ongoing civil war against each other, they wrought great damage on Mars, which used to be a far more temperate, colonized Earthlike planet before its atmosphere was destroyed in the same conflict that also utterly destroyed their home planet, its remains eventually becoming the asteroid belt. This last act was apparently a threshold event of some kind that caused the culture to lay down their arms, possibly out of shame or out of fear of some kind of reprisal. As a result, they put themselves and their technology in suspended animation deep within Europa's ocean. One of the Cold Harbor scientists suggests that this was motivated chiefly by their inability to live with themselves. However, before doing so, the culture seeded Earth with the genetic material that allowed human life to grow. However, thanks to the unscrupulous acts of the insane manager of a weapons testing facility also in orbit around Europa, owned by an interplanetary

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

named Doors, the race starts to wake up, putting the Earth itself at risk from the resurgence of the extremely powerful and violent precursor race, and Nathan and the Harbor scientists are practically the only ones that can stop them.

Collected editions

A trade paperback collection of the series was published by

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

(). DC imprint

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

released a

Deluxe Edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

in 2015 that ''Ocean'' combined into one hardcover volume with Ellis' ''

Orbiter A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, pl ...

'', that was originally published by Vertigo ().

Film

The comic has been optioned by

Gianni Nunnari Gianni Nunnari (born 10 August 1959) is an Italian film and television producer and executive. Early life After completing his studies, he followed the footsteps of his father, Alexander Nunnari, and began his career in the film business. Ca ...

and

Nick Wechsler Nick Wechsler may also refer to: * Nick Wechsler (actor) (born 1978), American actor * Nick Wechsler (film producer) (born 1949), American film producer {{Hndis, Wechsler, Nick ...

who have history with films based on comics, the former produced ''

300 __NOTOC__ Year 300 (Roman numerals, CCC) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, ...

'' and the duo are slated to produce the film based on '' Ronin''. Ryan Condal, writer of the spec script ''Galahad'', has been approached by

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

to produce a screenplay for them.

References

External links

* *
''Ocean'' review

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...