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Comic Review: Deadly Secrets


Edition: 9/9
Released: March 1997

“Whatever happened to the customer is always right.” – Rembrandt

Same earth, different dimension right?

Say no more, Acclaim Comics have totally blown that concept right out of proportion. They have completely turned Sliders upside down making “Deadly Secrets” a flashback of a 60’s space movie gone wrong, making Round-Up extinct on this world.

The first time I ready “Deadly Secrets” I was more than disappointed. The Sliders personalities in this comic are totally opposite from the T.V. series, filled with space travel and that of injustice of the true characters. Written by D.G. Chichester, “Deadly Secrets”, is a setting of exploration into space, with an issue of overgrowing bioengineered vegetation. When the Sliders land on a world of out of control vegetation they are sent into the great beyond.

After overcoming a “bioengineered growth accelerant” of plant-life, the Sliders come under a gas attack. Wade is alarmed; believing that an Earth Corps soldier is her father. They are boarded onto a shuttle and sent through a (heart-racing) journey into outer space to a station named Multibiz. Strapped in, Professor Arturo halters down in pain as Rembrandt clears the crowd for assistance – Wade: “Where’d you learn that, Rembrandt?” Rembrandt: “Crowd control and Crying Man concerts!”

Writer, D.G. Chichester brings it all into the Sliders problems by reminding Wade of her parents, giving the Professor excruciating pain, with Quinn and Rembrandt trying to control it all. Multibiz seems bent on selling anything from toilet paper to theatrical movies. Mainly being bent of selling drugs galore of every medicine you can imagine. This station is like an on board “sick bay” with millions of McCoy’s running around.

The Professor is assisted with a doctor named Bonnie and is informed he has an incurable illness. Bonnie is a bit suspicious and realizes that they are “out of the ordinary”. Wade is startled and also believes that Bonnie is her mother. Bonnie is jittery and later breaks down to confess to Quinn that her Wade was killed during an anti-nuclear protest on their world.

You see, our Wade had foster parents; with her biological parents as hippies, they were killed in an anti-nuclear demonstration when she was just a baby. Gaining interest in science, she was destined to get away from the ‘liberal’ mindset she once knew. Whereas her parents were hippies in radical movements, flag burning rebels and mutual activists.

Conrad Bennish Jr. a blonde egghead scientist, escapes the path of the vegetation just as it splinters into the space station. Wade and Rembrandt are uprooted into space by the vegetation and are timely recovered by Bonnie. Planted in their seats; Bonnie and the Sliders depart for earth and land in the midst of a steamy South America. A genetic structure obtained by Sullivan (Wade’s father), averages out that Multibiz is Green Thumb, the creator of the horrendous bioengineer vegetation.

One hour till the slide and the plant-life is ignited by fire into a message seen from the heavens reading, Green Thumb is Multibiz. With seconds to slide, Wade is thankful, realizing she has been granted her dream of seeing her parents again, even though they were doubles.

There are some good aspects from the T.V. series shown here, but hard to uncover from all the green goop. Let’s take a look, the Professor complains of his hard landings after their slides, “as always” and doubles are discussed various times. Professor Arturo describes his illness as a sort of “Luck of the Draw” implicating it to be God’s will. Pavel, the cab driver with the “discrete accent” from the Pilot episode appears as a helpless Multibiz customer revealing his ignorance of the fraud. Earthprime’s Gate Haven on this world is otherwise known as “Multibiz Haven”.

Let’s talk about the numerous flaws of this comic and I mean numerous. Is this a rehash of the episode, The King is Back? Rembrandt seems to talk repetitively about his Crying Man days of his musical career. The Professor is accustomed to his student as “Mr. Mallory” instead of Quinn as we all know, these guys have seemingly forgot that. Wade Welles does not have foster parents as we know of in the smash hit T.V. series. Illustrations lack a lot in this one, Quinn is portray as a robust Hercules instead of a slim college egghead from San Francisco and Conrad Bennish as a buzz cut blonde? I know this is a parallel universe, but he should be a chillin hard rocker with long hair as in the series. The proximity of the timer appears as a stopwatch strapped to a grenade. How ridiculous is that?

Similarity is spelled out of Rembrandt’s comments to Wade: “Hey, Wade… why the tears you o.k.?” This is eerily similar between the Pilot episode of Quinn’s comments to Wade after their slide: “Hey… what’s with the tears, you hit your head or something?” Same perplexity, same enthusiasm; near close quote.

I know this is a comic, but come on; this is too futuristic for Sliders and going with space travel? It’s over 200 degrees below zero in space, so how did Rembrandt and Wade survive after being sucked out into space and where did they come up with the space suits? I guess they survived with Rembrandt’s soothing hot air from the Spinning Topps. Why didn’t Conrad Bennish and the rest get taken out in space by the vacuum with Wade and Rembrandt? It’s also virtually impossible to light a fire into a message seen from space and in one hour? What were they thinking?!

Leading up to a shock of a story, Wade having foster parents, the Professor having an incurable illness, this is just what the doctor ordered. Writer D.G. Chichester, takes all of these propositions and makes a lifeless jumble out of them.

This one doesn’t even reach the charts in my book, mass confusion, space exploration, and lapses of problems, just doesn’t cut it with me. Sliders fans want same earth, different dimension not “to boldly go where no one has gone before.”