Essentials Vol. 1 is a beautifully produced graphic novel that explores the consequences of a near-cataclysmic, apocalyptic event.

Unlike most disaster-focused fiction, this story details an end scenario that’s much more cerebral than giant asteroids or typical alien invaders. Here, the peril appears after Earth collides with an alternate dimension. The immediate result is devastating: Most of humanity perishes, absorbed into a collective alien consciousness. Those who survive only do so because of a cerebral loophole: They become trapped in illusory realities that, while sustaining life, are no kind of life at all.

The book opens with a family of three doggedly surviving a zombie apocalypse. A father, mother and young daughter hole up in a boarded-up house, fighting off the undead between supply runs. Those circumstances aren’t reality, however, which is revealed after a scientist named Harris Pax and his companion (an interdimensional being inhabiting an abandoned mortal body) break into the mother’s reality and explain it’s all a trick of her own mind.

Essentials follows the progress of Pax and his companion as they hop from reality to reality, trying to rescue inhabitants from their self-imposed illusions to reclaim the living world. Meanwhile, the collective works to suck in all remaining individual consciousness.

It’s a heady, abstract setup, but the writers and artists pull it off. The authors boast high-profile Hollywood credits as actors and writers, and they bring a sense of theatricality to this story. What’s more, the book’s varied art styles from a group of skilled illustrators give the narrative richness and depth. Different artistic styles portray alternate realities with varying degrees of detail, color and line work. The effect is impressive. The book comes in a lovingly designed case.

While the talk of different dimensions, alternate inner realities and perception itself may be challenging for casual comic readers, the story drills down to essential questions, delivering a thought-provoking read about what it means to be human and what ultimately makes life worth living.