Cluster Review

Boom Studio's Cluster

I can’t really tell what exactly the draw is.  It may be the ever growing excitement for the newest Star Wars movie, or it could just be my lifelong love of all things sci fi, but whatever it is I have really been impressed with the amount of good sci fi stuff coming out lately.  One of the first things I reviewed on Nerdbinge was Salvagers, a sci fi book I found on Kickstarter, and since then I have done an Image title called Drifter.  These two books I have reviewed I gave enthusiastic thumbs up and sorry for the spoiler but Cluster won’t be any different.

Cluster is a Boom Studio book that is created and written by Ed Brisson, illustrated by Damian Couceiro, colored by Michael Garland, and has a bunch of other artists that worked on varies different covers and colors for the covers.  The art is nice and pleasing to look at, all of the characters are distinct and unique in their own way.  Even though the artists are different Cluster reminds me of another Boom Studios book called Black Market.  Overall the art is excellent and on par with the industries best.



 

Cluster starts off with a character named Samara Simmons getting arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence and public endangerment causing bodily harm.  I know, a mouthful, but better to know what she is facing that going in blind, besides it has to do with the plot as the next few panels insinuate that there was a passenger in the burning wreck behind her.  The entire opening scenario is done in three pages and only the last page has any of the dialog.  I like the way the book starts because it instantly creates empathy for Samara and draws the reader in with the events leaving us wanting us more.



After Samara is arrested she wakes up two years later from a cryogenic sleep in a ship that is about to dock on a prison planet where the prisoners are used as soldiers to fight against an alien population called Pagurani that want to colonize planet themselves.  The planet Midlothian and the prison Tranent is a fifteen year sentence, minimum, and the prisoners are fitted with a device that prevents them from escaping.  They call the device a punch and it basically equates to a twenty four hour pass off the prison compound but after the twenty four hours is up the punch releases something like acid that eats away at the prisoners insides.  Brisson sets up the exposition and explains what he needs to explain through a believable set up that helps to move along the story well.  Within the first ten to twelve pages we have been introduced, at least briefly, to most or all of the main characters and have the jist of the story arc explained without it being blatant exposition.  As a writer I feel like hiding the exposition is actually one of the hardest things to do while build a world and I think this goes double for extensive sci fi worlds.  Sometimes sci fi worlds can get vast really quick leaving the reader dumbfounded or overwhelmed, but Brisson avoids this scenario very well.

After the general introduction of the scenario Brisson lightens up a little and introduces some of the other prisoners that will be accompanying Samara on her first mission.  The prisoners are a rag tag bunch and all of them have a strange, quirky, or funny vibe to their personalities, but of course they all fit well together.  Not that the exchange they share would support that fact but Brisson makes it work.  They all start to argue and fight causing the guards to have to break up the fight which sets up the next part of the story.



The fight lands all of the prisoners involved on the first fighter ship out to search for Pagurani and of course the first trip out wouldn't be memorable without some action.  The fighter ship carrying all of the main protagonists gets shot down and blown up leaving everyone stranded.  Brisson leaves us with the crew stranded and wounded with only twenty three hours to get back to Tranent before the punch goes off and ruin’s their day.  I like the hook for issue two because it actually leaves off at a reasonable spot in the story.  We get a great introduction to the world and the protagonists but it leaves us wanting more, like a good story should.

I make no apologies for my sci fi bias but I have to give this book its due respect.  It’s well written and illustrated, and it gets the job done without bombarding the reader with intricate details of a world that isn't really well defined.  I can’t wait to see what happens to the group on their journey back and I’m interested in the plight of the people on planet Midlothian as well as the Pagurani.  Brisson lets us know what we need to know and does it slyly enough by weaving it into the story itself.  I have read many books in my life time and the true test is summed up in a question, “Will I buy issue two?”  And for Cluster I have to say that the answer to that question is a resounding “YES!”

Drifter from Image Comics Review

A Sci-Fi Tale from Image Comics: Drifter

When talking about comic books the phrase “The big two” comes up a lot, and for good reason, there iconic labels, but if truth be told the phrase should be “The big three.”  Since its inception in 1992 by famed illustrator Todd McFarlane, and an army of upset illustrators, Image Comics has redefined what the comic industry is capable of.  Image was an instant success and has helped to develop amazing artists and artist owned property.  Drifter is just one of their new titles that have made a splash.

Drifter is scripted by Ivan Brandon, and edited by Sebastian Girner.  The artwork is done by Nic Klein, lettering by Clem Robins, and the logo and design by Tom Muller.  The cover is a portrait of a man, the main character Abram Pollux, with Drifter spelled out in dots underneath him.  The cover art is vastly different from the comic art; the cover is a very realistic looking portrait style close up of Abram’s face while the inside is more of a normal comic feel.  The art of the cover as well as the inside is top notch and on par with any expectations, the characters are lively and telling in every essential way.



The book starts off with Abram Pollux falling out of space and crash landing on a planet only to nearly drown.  He ends up crawling out of the water and accidentally killing an alien that attempts to help him.  The alien wasn’t alone and its companion rushes to the aid of its dying friend, and Pollux watches it die in its friends arms.  I feel like this sets up the ideas of the book perfectly, a drifter that has personal issues and questionable morals.

After Pollux kills the alien he is shot by a mysterious character in a suit that reminds me a little bit of Star Lord, a gas mask and goggles design with a cape.  At this point I assume that the main character won’t get killed off in the first couple of pages but the events have already drawn me into the story and the character.

[caption id="attachment_1177" align="alignnone" width="195"] Pollux getting shot[/caption]

The story picks up with Pollux in a hospital setting and introduces a jack of all trades sheriff and doctor named Lee.  Lee is talking to a man named Jonah about what seems to be some serious stuff when Pollux wakes up.  Lee and Pollux have an exchange that stresses the desperation on the planet.  There exchange and the tone of desperation sets up the world Pollux has crash landed on well and it fits with the ideas already presented.  Pollux puts the feel of the book perfectly when he says, “Been half-drowned and burnt up, crashed and then shot in this place.”  It seems like a desert, empty, desolate place that struggles to stay alive, just like Pollux.

So far Pollux has had nothing but bad experiences with the planet and the people/aliens on it, save Lee, but the book transitions flawless from the world setup to Pollux leaving the little town and searching for his wrecked ship.  Lee is clearly intrigued by Pollux and curious about what he is leaving for and follows him.  Pollux and Lee talk as they search for the wreckage of Pollux’s ship.  Lee wonders where Pollux came from and what he hoped to find in the deserts of the planet but during his explanation of where he came from Lee sees that things don’t match up.  Pollux explains where he came from and when his ship went down but Lee seems surprised by his answers.  They end the book with Pollux and Lee standing on a ridge overlooking the wreckage while Lee tells Pollux that wreck happened over a year ago.  I understand the need for a hook when dealing with an ongoing series and Drifter leaves it open with a serious cliffhanger.

[caption id="attachment_1175" align="alignnone" width="343"] The Town[/caption]

I liked the world that they set up, the desperation and desperado feel of a Wild West type planet, and the intriguing characters that are somewhat mysterious and dark.  The world is nice but the character development is even better, I feel invested in Lee with her reluctant heroism and sympathetic of Pollux and his misfortune.  I also have a soft spot for Sci-Fi as you may have noticed with my review of Salvagers and eternal love of Star Wars and Star Trek.  Sci-Fi is a genre of literally never ending possibility for characters and worlds and it seems to me the team behind Drifter have a vast world in store and I will be tuning in for issue two to find out if that is true.

Remender's Black Science is a Beast of a Book

Black Science is What Sliders Should Have Been

Rick Remender is a heavy hitter in all genres of the comic book realm. Many of you Marvel fans out there may know him from numerous books, including recent hits like Uncanny Avengers, Captain America, and Winter Soldier (with the last two being especially note-worthy with the recent cinematic blockbuster) and previous runs on Venom and Uncanny X-Force plus many, many more. While Remender excels in the larger arena, he also has a passion and great success in the smaller, creator-owned realm with fan favorites such as Fear Agent and now Black Science.



It took me a while to get around to this book. I will admit, I am a fanboy for the bigger studios, namely Marvel. I dabble in DC, but I am often turned off by many different aspects of their books. When it comes to the smaller labels, Image, Dark Horse, etc. I pick up their books when someone tells me, "This is not to be missed." Well, Black Science is not to be missed! I had been alerted to this fact numerous times by my comic-book-aficionado friend Nick, but it literally took me weeks to peel back the cover of Black Science #1. In some regards, I am glad that I waited so long, because this allowed me to absorb the first arc of Black Science quite similarly to the same way I've absorbed so many popular TV shows of late. Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, and so many more have come to me after the initial premieres. And this lack of knowledge has afforded me the chance to binge watch these shows up until the point where I'm caught up. And then the inevitable waiting begins. The rest of you hardcore fans are probably scoffing at me now, but I feel your pain nonetheless! Black Science has recently rapped its first major story arc with a hell of a cliff-hanger, and now the next issue (#7) is not due out until July. Wow. Ouch. Sheesh. Please, no!  ... Anyway, on to the review.

Spoilers ahead for sure. Please, if you haven't read at least the first couple of issues, just take this glowing opening paragraph as a sign from above, stop reading, and go out to you local comic book shop NOW.

Black Science is wholly a sci-fi comic book in the best possible way. There are no super-heroes here, no super powers, just science... cold, hard, Black science. The title is an excellent double entendre in that it leads you to think of "black magic," but this is far worse...its Black Science. No mysteries or unexplained reactions, this is all science and the worst possible kind.

The premise of this book is, unfortunately,  not wholly original. Any Jerry O'Connell fans out there? Well, if so, good for you, because the most basic comparison to any existing pop culture reference here is easily the mid-90's sci-fi TV show, Sliders. This crew of "anarchist scientists," as our lead character Grant McKay refers to this rabble, is currently bouncing through an infinite number of alternate universes (or rather, the "Eververse" in keeping with the book's nomenclature). Why you may ask? Well, Grant and his crew surmised that in a universe with infinite quantum possibilities, there must be worlds in which every possible outcome had in fact already occurred. To this end, they believed that if they could travel to these other timelines, they would have access to every solution to any problem they would ever have. As it turns out, they were right. And, for as much scientific success that this crew had, unfortunately, their problems are rooted heavily in the interpersonal realm. And who knows what science could ever do there.



As this books starts out, you get none of this backstory I so eloquently detailed for you. Issue #1 starts out fast and violent. This is why I should apologize for my earlier Sliders reference. For every bit that the basic premise may compare to that hokey 90's show, every single other aspect of this book is completely different. It is dark, visceral, and violent. This crew does not share the light-hearted camaraderie that Wade Welles, Rembrandt Brown, Professor Arturo and Quinn Mallory so readily exchanged. This crew, while at its emotional core consists of Grant McKay and his teen-aged children, otherwise is a group stricken by deep-seated personal, professional, and romantic conflicts. Kamir, the financial backer and his lackey Chandra do not share the same goals as McKay. Grant accompanied by his children Nathan and Pia also have a loyal crew of fellow researchers/security of Shawn, Rebecca, and Ward. These relationships are all twisted and convoluted in different ways, but the lynch pin in the whole ensemble nightmare is that the world-jumping technology known as the Pillar has been damaged since the first jump, stranding this contentious crew in the numerous alternate dimensions that await them until they can travel home.



Once again, I can't help but make the Sliders comparison for numerous reasons: the crew is required to "jump" on a predetermined timeline, their mechanism for jumping is broken, thus resulting in them moving randomly from dimension to dimension without any idea where they will end up. While its fair to make this comparison, Black Science would have made a helluva better show. The worlds of Black Science are stranger, more in-depth, and mystifying than anything else I've read in comic books. And that's saying something from a Marvel fan (those fools love to fuck with the timeline and create alternate dimensions). Often times, the population of these alternate dimensions are human like, but only if amphibians, reptiles, or primates had evolved to the level of our current civilizations. Alternately, the book doesn't always play with evolution, but instead world history, as we see the Native American tribes at one point as the dominant civilization on the planet, running the European civilizations into the ground with superior technology.



While the world building is infinitely interesting (as the potential is still very much untapped) the characters and their relationships are really the meat and potatoes of this story. I've read every column at the back of each comic in its entirety and it's impossible to ignore Remender's focus on an ensemble cast for this book. It's very clear he wanted to focus on a group of characters and explore what comes from their relationships and honestly, he's really killing it here. Without dropping any major spoilers here (go read issue #6), things between these characters are getting really sticky. Let me go ahead and give you the same warning I wish someone had given me before I started watching Game of Thrones: No characters are off limits. Yep, I'm just going to leave that there and move on.



While I could indulge my self ad infinitum, I think its time to rap this up and push you all to go read this book. Its truly fantastic. The art of Matteo Scalera and Dean White set a perfect tone for this edgy, dark, and often mesmerizing sci-fi story while Rick Remender is really holding nothing back on this one. Many an online forum or letters column I have read, wax on end that this book is worthy of the title of "masterpiece" in the annals of Remender's work and I am akin to agree. While it took me a while to get around to this series, I'm sure to feel the burn of the next couple of months waiting for issue #7...

Check Image Comics page for more info on Black Science: http://imagecomics.com/content/view/see-forever-in-black-science-by-remender-and-scalera