By: David Hine (writer), Doug Braithwaite (art), Ulises Arreola (colors), Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt (letters)
The Story: Inter-planetary cops show up on a planet to investigate a murder.
Quick review: This isn’t a bad comic, but I doubt it’ll light anyone’s socks on fire either. It’s actually comics like this one that make one realize what a broad term “science fiction” is. Alien, Blade Runner and Star Wars are all “science fiction”, but they’re very different types of stories that have different appeals. One of those is horror, one is crime and the other is a western. Depending on the type of science fiction you enjoy, you may or may not enjoy this comic somewhat, but I doubt you’ll love it.
The set-up for the comic is pretty simple and something we’ve seen before. We start out on an alien planet and meet a few of the local miners and local officials. A murder has occurred and representatives from “the union” are there to investigate. The planet has indigenous, intelligent life and that means the union investigators are forced to leave some of their high-tech toys behind. You can probably guess other elements like the locals aren’t very happy to have the union representatives there and the union folks are a little fish-out-of-water without their technology and the aliens are surely involved somehow.
There are two problems with the story. One is that it doesn’t take immediate steps to grab the reader’s attention. The opening scene is a few pages of the local miners trudging along, complaining about the weather and the alien insects until they see the union ship fly over. It’s not a compelling entry to the comic. Compare and contrast to the opening scene of Bedlam #1 from last week where we opened with a scene of the killer in the middle of a murder spree: Bedlam used its first pages to grab the reader by the balls (or female equivalent) and demand that you pay attention. I’m just not very interested in miners. The union forces and the aliens are much more interesting. The killer would probably be more interesting. Why not start with them?
The other problem with the story is that I kinda feel like I know what will happen. David Hine is a quality writer and I’m sure he has a twist or two, but the set up is similar enough to other stories that I think I know what will happen. The locals will glower over the union’s intrusion in their matters the way country folk distrust city folk. At least one of the locals will be some kind of killer. Some of the locals will want to leave the aliens alone so they can develop in peace. The aliens will be noble savages and if they were involved in the murder, it’ll be because of cultures not understanding each other. The union forces will have some people who just want to kill all the aliens, blah, blah, blah. Like I said, for some reason this story makes me feel like I know what will happen next and that makes it a story I’m not that interested in reading more of. Note: I may not KNOW what will happen next, but the comic gives off an aura of predictability that isn’t compelling.
I run hot and cold on Braithwaite’s art. I mean, the guy is a tremendously talented fine artist and there are panels in this issue that are glorious. But there are just as many that are stiff and at odds with the action. Sequential art is really hard and artists rooted in realism are at a distinct disadvantage because realism is weird sometimes. Just look at candid photographs and see whether the faces always match what you knew was going on sometimes.
Conclusion: This is fine. It isn’t great and it isn’t bad either. If you’re desperate for some science fiction in your comics reading or if you’re a huge Doug Braithwaite fan, it may be worth a look.
Grade: C
– Dean Stell
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