Salvagers 3 Review

The Sci Fi Salvage Crew Adventures Continue

When I first started to write about comics I decided to try and stick with not just stuff that I liked but with stuff that was somewhat lesser known and deserved the exposure.  My first review was on a little book called Salvagers #1; written by Bob Salley, Illustrated by George Acevedo, colored by DeSika, and lettered by Hde.  You can check out my review on Salvagers #1 or you can just take my word for the fact that it was a really nice book made with care and love from a crew that believe in what they do.  Nothing has changed between issues one and three, these guys make sure of it, and the four successful Kickstarter’s have proven that more people than just me believe in their work.

I feel like I have to give a shout out to the artists first, George Acevedo has a very realistic style that is only accented by DeSika’s coloring.  The characters are rich in style and color and they all have very distinct feel which is important to me.  The details are there as well, especially when the scene is of outer space or close up of the characters.  As much as I love the art I can’t take away from the letters either, each character has a different letter style and the thought bubbles are unique to the situation.  All around great art work and I can tell it’s all done with love.    

Salley has a vast world that he has created but aside from aliens and people interacting in this world of vast galaxies it’s nothing out of the ordinary from most sci fi and Salley makes it really easy to follow.  Salley gives a great little back story and overview of what has happened so far in the series.  I enjoy the overviews because with self-published and self-made stuff like Salvagers the production gets caught up with things unforeseen like Kickstarter.  These guys put their hearts and souls into the production and it shines through with the Kickstarter’s that they have successfully run four times now.  The overview allows a new reader the ability to know enough of the back story but not be spoiled enough to not want to read the first three issues.  Basically broken down issue one is the crew going to salvage a Darzinean Warspray ship, and issue two is a bit of a back story on one of the crew members and why the team ended up taking the salvage job in the first place.  Like I said, this is a great little catch up for new readers and a little refresher for those of us that have been following along.  

The story picks right back up without skipping a beat and we join the crew back on the Warspray ship.  Brigby the comic relief and Ty’r the muscle are still together trying to figure out their situation.  They were getting attacked by androids and trying to figure out how to shut them off so they’re not in danger anymore.  Captain Bill Roenick is still stuck on his own, with only communication to Teagan and a friendly droid he found to help him.  Then there is Teagan who is still on their ship helping with the tech and in communication with Bill.  The first three pages is a nice exchange between Brigby and Ty’r as Brigby tries to save face for getting them into the situation.  Ty’r gives him some shit but the comradery is never in question, the strong personalities of Brigby and Ty’r are clearly balanced by the Captain.  Even while they both bicker and complain about each other and the situation both of them worry about the Captain.

  

As we know Captain Bill Roenick is on his own with only the friendly droid and is working on the mystery of why the ship is there and how they’re going to salvage it.  Bill and the droid know that a security company owning a ship like that wouldn't be out of the ordinary but as they tinker around in the ships mainframe they find out that there are life pods heading straight for them at devastating speeds.  Bill realizes that the security company Blackbane wouldn't have left their ship without a contingency plan and in this case that plan happened to be sending some escape pods around the nearest planets orbit and crashing them into the ship.  At this point I was seeing the drama coming around the corner but I didn't really expect the surviving pods to be on the way to act as missiles.  I have to assume that the approaching pods are going to be the drama of the issue and the only thing I wonder, naturally, is if the pods are empty.  Bill has already said offhand that Blackbane is petty BA and the Darzinean's are some of the best soldiers in the galaxy so I wonder if we will be seeing any of these guys by issues end.  

Bill frequently attempts to regain communications with Teagan through their artificial intelligence called AVRI (Artificial Vehicular Resource Intelligence) and when he discovers the approaching pods he finally gets a hold of her.  Teagan is working on the ship and trying to get a solid communication link but Bill hits her with the bombshell that their finished if she can’t get the shields up and deflect the pods.  Through the dialog and thought bubbles we see why Bill trusts Teagan so much, she is basically the entire crew of the Enterprise wrapped into one!  She is a top notch mechanic and can run the mainframe, a software and hardware specialist, and possibly the most important person on the crew, at least how I see it.  

Teagan maneuvers an otherwise non maneuverable ship to take the brunt of the pods but two of them were still on course for the Warspray.  Bill and the android are caught near the impact and have to get resourceful really fast to stay alive.  Bill finds a ventilation shaft and makes a run for it before the fire catches up with him.  I know that Ty’r was correct when he said the Captain is resourceful and I have no doubt that he will be fine.  I also happened to notice that the pods hit directly where the androids were being kept and I wonder if that was a destruction of evidence tactic by the Darzinean or just a coincidence, but either way now there are androids floating out into space.  

Brigby and Ty’r were not near the accident but they definitely felt something and mention as much in dialog.  Their master plan is to get to the engine room and get the ship working so they can open doors and do all the stuff a powered ship allows.  The guys were successful in opening a door but to what I wasn't really sure, probably a power core of some sort.  No matter what, if they go to help the Captain or not, their still trying to get the ship up and online and at this point I hope they do so maybe they can stop the fires and fix the hole the pods blew in the side not to mention maybe get a line of communication so they’re not cut off from the Captain and Teagan.

Teagan has lost Bill again and is scrambling to fix the damage caused by the pods when she starts asking AVRI for help.  The AVRI system helps her but she gets a call from an officer that states she is in violation of her parole.  When it rains it pours, it seems they just can’t catch a break, until Teagan gets a report from AVRI saying that the ships shields were at 78% and the core was not only in tact it was running at a reasonable speed.  The AVRI has scanned the Harrier IV (their ship) and the Warspray (the salvage ship) but wasn't able to find the Captain.  Teagan see’s the wreckage of the life pods and notices they were in fact full of Darzinean’s.  At this point I wonder if the Darzinean’s knew they were on a suicide mission, I wonder if they’re actually trying to salvage anything from the ship themselves and just went into defense mode when they noticed the salvager crew.  So far the Darzinean’s are the biggest question I have because I feel like they can tie in this mystery to the first few issues and I’m also willing to bet that they play a large role in the coming issues.   

The book ends with Captain Bill as he makes his way through the duct system and out into the weapons depot where he discovers a gun ship of some kind and a ton of droids.  Because of the fact Brigby got into a crime family I assume that they would want any and all of the weapons but I wonder if the ship is more important than the droids or vice versa.  I would assume that a nice army of mindless droids would be nice for anyone trying to take something over but a reliable BA gun ship probably isn't a bad thing either.  

Issue one is a great introduction to the team and their little world, issue two is a great back story that brings the crew and issue three into perspective, and now I feel issue three is a real send off for the series.  Issue three is ramping up the action and developing the story and characters better than I could have asked for.  Salley keeps the mystery with the Darzinean’s and what is really going on with the Warspray but keeps adding layers to the story and the characters.  I really enjoy this series and if you do too I suggest you make your way to their Kickstarter because they have some really killer prizes and if you put in you can be more than just a supporter, you can be a part of it.  I linked to their issue four kickstarter but keep in mind that even if a project is funded it doesn't mean that the money won't go to production and I'm more than certain that issue five will have a kickstarter coming soon as well so if you felt like waiting for that you can be one of the first to contribute and swoop up some of those awesome rewards!

Some of the rewards include; digital and hard copies, signed issues and pinups by original artists including George Acevedo, T-Shirts, and any other thing that pops into their creative little heads.  I have no doubt that the prizes will as good or better for their next round and I admire what they have been able to do through Kickstarter, so check them out and contribute to help keep this galaxy salvaged.