Heavy Liquid is a five-issue limited series written by Paul Pope which has science fiction and cyberpunk elements.[1]

Heavy Liquid
Publication information
PublisherVertigo
FormatLimited series
Genre
Publication dateOctober 1999 – February 2000
No. of issues5
Creative team
Created byPaul Pope
Written byPaul Pope
Artist(s)Paul Pope
Collected editions
Heavy LiquidISBN 1-4012-1949-7

Plot

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A former police officer known only as "S" operates as a private detective based in New York City, finding people and objects for a fee. S steals a quantity of a strange substance called "Heavy Liquid". On its own, it is a metallic-liquid explosive, but it turns into "black milk" when cooked, and exhibits mind-altering, drug-like properties. A mysterious art collector who also has a quantity of Heavy Liquid wishes to hire S to find a missing artist named Rodan Esperella (coincidentally S's ex-lover), whom he hopes will create a piece out of the Heavy Liquid for him. In the meantime, assassins are on S's trail, looking to retrieve the stolen Heavy Liquid. S finally trails Esperella to Paris, and he tries to broker a deal between her and the art collector. Esperella promises to sculpt a masterpiece on the condition that she never see S again. His job done, S boards a train heading to Prague, where he is cornered by one of his pursuers. S then discovers from his pursuer that the Heavy Liquid is alien in origin, and may even possess some form of consciousness. Ingesting the drug himself, S escapes by jumping onto another train, his physical abilities dramatically increased by the Heavy Liquid. S comes to understand its nature as a medium containing an alien intelligence. Ultimately, on the European train, S experiences first contact with the being.[1][2]

Collected editions

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The full series was collected in a single hardcover from DC Comics (ISBN 1-40121-949-7).

A second collection of the five original issues was collected by Image Comics in 2019 (ISBN 978-1-5343-1404-7).

References

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  1. ^ a b Irvine, Alex (2008). "The Extremist". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The Vertigo Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-7566-4122-1. OCLC 213309015.
  2. ^ Arnold, Andrew D. (2001-03-16). "Don't Put That Stuff in Your Ear!". Time magazine.