"Nameless" combines sci-fi & horror to give us an insanely horrible futuristic nightmare

After having read the recently released one-shot Nameless comic (written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Chris Burnham & Nathan Fairbairn) from Image, I was immediately reminded of some sci-fi horror cinema from my youth, most notably Event Horizon, Alien franchise and (the relatively recent) Prometheus.  Those movies, much like this comic, take our heroes to far away mysterious places in outer space where unspeakable evil lives, but must be explored nonetheless.

I'm not sure if it's even possible to explain the plot of Nameless, but I'll give it a shot.  A swindler called - what else - Nameless is hired by a billionaire named Darius to venture into outer space and explore an asteroid that's headed towards Earth at enormous speed.  The thing is, this asteroid, referred to as Xibalba, is unique: it contains the spirit of an evil entity that devours everything in its path.  Once Nameless and his crew reach it, people start getting mutilated in the worst ways, and the point of view shifts several times between what's actually happening, what's happening in the characters' minds, and also what's happening in an alternate reality.  That, at least, is what I think happened.

Nameless is a very abstract comic serial, and its ambiguous storyline, themes and ultra-violent content made me think of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the Garth Ennis written and Jacen Burrows illustrated Crossed comic, which is not for the faint of heart.  Morrison does a good job of keeping us flipping through the pages at good, solid pace, even though what we've seen and read doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  The artwork by Burnham and Fairbairn reminded me of Ennis' iconic Preacher, which was illustrated by Steve Dillon.  The styles of these two men are more similar than I had at first realized.

Ultimately, this is not something you'd ever want to read again, and the fact that it's trippy and convoluted works in its favor.  At a time when so many comics are very straightforward but also border on the boring, Nameless manages to be the exact opposite.  It's anything but a bore, but I dare you to try to recite its plot to someone after reading it.  It's like a futuristic nightmare where, even after we wake up, we still find ourselves dreaming of the horrors yet to come.
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