Crimson Dark is one of the most engaging and entertaining webcomics I’ve had the honor of reading. It’s self labeled as a Sci-Fi Graphic Novel, but if you want my opinion its more of a “Science Fiction Cyberpunk Drama”. More often then not Sci-Fi’s about the action, not the story, but this comic does a superb job of maintaining that delicate mix of Action, Drama, and heaping loads of character development. As the story progresses the characters become deeper personal storylines creep out along the main one and you grow more and more fond of them.

The Author, David C. Simon, has created a universe full of political intrigue, rich and exciting characters and action scenes that sometimes make you feel like you’re looking at a still photo of a movie. The universe has a rich history full of war and strife and even hope. Governmental bodies like the Republic of Daranir and the Cirin Alliance vie for supremacy in, as one of the central characters, Kari Tyrell put it, a Dirty War.

Taking place in the later half of the 27th Century the story revolves around the crew of the Niobe a Heavily modified ship under the command of Vaegyr Ward and his wife Larissa. They, along with Kari Tyrell, former R.A.S.F. Pilot, Daniel Qian, ships doctor, Whisper, Augment and cybernetics expert, and Hal Grisdale, ships engineer try to make a living and survive in an era disrupted by war.

Despite the seemingly simple premise the story is anything but simple. Secrets big and small, personal and governmental are revealed and explored. Deceit and danger lurk within every star system. Nothing appears to be what it seems and the stakes are high for the characters. David C. Simon has taken a potentially run of the mill story and created a deep and absorbing universe that I come back to every week.

And it isn’t just the story, there’s more. A full blown database containing small bits about main and secondary characters, ship statistics, organizational information, timeline and glossary terms is available. Less a comic and more a Universe in a web page Crimson Dark is easily one of the most entertaining and addictive web comics out there. Its only short coming? Its not updated nearly enough, but you can’t really fault the man in that regard. All in all, Crimson Dark is a comic you certainly should look into, you won’t regret it.