Dark Horse Puts Out a Second Free Emergency Comic

Without Warning! Tsunami

Two years ago, Dark Horse Comics and the Oregon Office of Emergency Management put out a digital comic called Without Warning!, a project geared to helping teens prepare for earthquakes and increasing awareness of what to do in such a situation.

Now there’s a sequel! Without Warning! Tsunami is by the same creative team, writers Jeremy Barlow and Althea Rizzo and artist David Hahn.

Without Warning! Tsunami

Matty and her mother have been camping. They’re packing up, preparing to return home, when an earthquake strikes. Three nearby kayakers are swept ashore in the resulting tsunami. Matty’s mom finds one of the teens and shows how to cope in the situation, providing first aid and notifying emergency contacts.

I wish the comic was longer, because I wanted to know more about the characters involved and how they coped. I was surprised that some of the images are a tad post-apocalyptic in terms of just how much damage can be done. Scaring the reader helps make the message powerful.

The comic also has some direct statements to the reader about what they can do, plus preparedness information. The Great Oregon ShakeOut, an opportunity to practice what would happen during an earthquake and drill on what should be done, is October 20. From the press release, “Oregon is located in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 600-hundred mile earthquake fault stretching from offshore Northern California to Southern British Columbia. According to scientists and other experts, a large 9.0 or higher earthquake could strike Oregon at any time.” Thus their interest in being prepared.

Without Warning: Tsunami is available now online, while printed copies can be obtained through local (to Oregon, presumably) county emergency management offices.



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