Chadwick's works, like his well-known Concrete
, have always maintained a fiercely individual slant, but this collection of his two miniseries raids the back catalogues of Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Challengers of the Unknown and a plethora of underground exploration yarns. Chadwick sends "the Team of Six" into a hostile subterranean landscape replete with horrific monsters, strange natural phenomena, incredible technologies and lost civilizations with predictable results. The characters are much better written than what's usually seen in team books, with a story often interrupted by some random, oddball threat that is usually solved with a bout of action or a firefight. The action set pieces are quite lively, thanks to the author's no-nonsense artwork. It's clear that Chadwick was trying to develop a piece that would yield narrative rewards if given time to find its audience and thrive. However, the series was ended early, necessitating a rapid conclusion that solves most of the plot threads, resulting in an engagingly illustrated, deeply flawed but interesting curiosity. (Jan.)
