In Assorted Crisis Events #3, Deniz Camp delivers a bold, frighteningly familiar story of cosmic separation that echoes the current social and political landscape.
Assorted Crisis Events has been one of my personal favourite ongoing comics of 2025. Issue #1 was an outstanding tale of multiversal, time-hopping chaos. Issue #2 personally didn’t quite live up to the immense expectations that were set, but the latest story in the anthology skyrockets the series back to the heights of its debut.
Issue #3 is focused on telling a large-scale story, rather than following on specific characters. Camp weaves together a fascinating, timely cosmic tale. Crisis On Hearth-Two chronicles what would happen if residents of a dying Earth escape into a near-identical neighbouring universe. In this story, the people of the quaint, tight-knit American town of Hearth seek refuge in an alternate-reality version of their town. At first, Hearth-One welcomes their parallel, alternate-reality friends with open arms, but as their integration into society becomes difficult for the town to grasp — economically and logistically — tensions arise.
This comic deals with themes of morality better than most I’ve read. In such a tight narrative, Camp delivers an exceptionally deep and thought-provoking story. He deals with the implications of such an event from numerous angles: the larger scale consequences, and the personal conflicts between alternate reality doubles. I particularly loved how Camp frames the story in the opening pages, with each page spread displaying a juxtaposition between Hearth-One and Hearth-Two. This style of art direction is breathtaking, and the illustrations by Eric Zawadzki are amazing as expected.
Sure, the story is enveloped in sci-fi concepts, but at its core, it’s a very human story about immigration, empathy, and moral compromise.
Not only is it a fun sci-fi read, but it’s also an important comic that represents the very best of the comics medium.
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
