In this issue, a new chapter beings.
Written by Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Dustin Nguyen
Lettered by Steve WandsTHE HAUNTED GALAXY,” Part One Powerhouse creative team JEFF LEMIRE and DUSTIN NGUYEN launch an all-new sequel series to DESCENDER with the launch of ASCENDER! Set ten years after the conclusion of DESCENDER’s storyline, magic has taken the place of machinery and the rules are very different indeed… Mila, the daughter of Andy and Effie from DESCENDER, spends her days exploring the lonely wilds of the planet Sampson and trying to stay out of the clutches of the evil disciples of the all-powerful vampire witch known only as Mother. But, like her parents, Mila doesn’t like to play by the rules, and when a certain robot pal of her dad’s shows up, nothing will ever be the same! With all the scope and heart of the sci-fi classic DESCENDER, LEMIRE and NGUYEN reunite to take readers on an unforgettable fantasy quest!
It would be understandable to look at the first issue of “Ascender,” the continuation of writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dustin Nguyen series “Descender,” with a bit of a side eyed glance. It has a lot of things to do such as doing all the basic heavy lifting a first issue tends to do, and establish that “Ascender” is in the exact opposite end of generic spectrum from “Descender,” while being both new and old reader friendly in roughly 25 pages. Even for such a studious planner like Lemire and evocative artist like Nguyen, there is a lot on this issues plate. Together they make it all mostly work in “Ascender” #1 as it offers a new and different but primally familiar new chapter in this world.
Judging by the first issue it dose not appear you need an intimate knowledge of the previous series. “Ascender” takes place a little over a decade since the end of “Descender” and things have changed, but maybe not as much as you would think. With the robots gone magic now flourishes throughout the galaxy. The transition from science fiction to fantasy sounds like a major aesthetic upheaval, but it isn’t that rough. Maybe magic is just technology we don’t understand and technology is magic we do understand. Nevertheless Lemire and Nguyen rightly side step getting into the core mechanics that govern magic in this issue, it is just a natural part of everyday living. They could also pull a Kojima and “nanomachines” the whole thing and I’d buy it instantly. One of the things “Ascender” #1 does right is not get bogged down in technicalities and try to explain things, instead it focuses on the characters and world they exist in.
Whatever powers this rejuvenated magical energy is besides the point of what the use of magic tells the reader about the world. You need knowledge to wield magic, and knowledge is heavily regulated in the world of “Ascender.” The one with the most knowledge appears to be Mother as she slowly dominates the galaxy and clashes with the remnants of the United Galactic Council. “Descender” had this air of Isaac Asimov styled science fiction to it. “Ascender” is clearly placed in the tradition of Star Wars, and that’s before Mother has a holocron like communion with her coven. That Star Wars quality is why “Ascender” #1 is so immediately understandable both aesthetically and narratively. The series main focus is on Mila, the daughter of a major character from the first series, like Luke she yearns, naively, for adventure and knowledge of the past when robotkind was side by side with them.
Nguyen’s art is very moody in this issue, that tone and environmental storytelling make for nice contrast for whenever Mila is on the page. Nguyen does a good job of cartooning human expressions into the various humanoid individuals, but the guile and self-aware childlike innocence he imbues Mila with is second to none. As Mila comes to the market to barter with some merchants, that scene and his visual storytelling tell the reader all they need to know about the character. It isn’t just the linework but the way his watercolors interact with those lines and each other. From the start of that market sequence, Mila feels alive and unlike Luke isn’t going to pout about not going to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters. She’s just going to go get those power converters, forget Uncle Owen.
Continued belowMila’s determined curiosity is one of the elements that frame her as the exact opposite of Mother. While Mila’s liveliness is due to Nguyen leaving ample room for colors to blend, Mother’s face is defined almost entirely by the craggy lines that weather it. Nguyen’s colors still find little places to pool but they just add depth to her face that echo other space baddies like Granny Goodness and Darth Sidious. Even without Star Wars as a touchstone, it is clear that Mother is a bad wizard from dressing all in black, using necromantic magiks, and she has a pair of bumbling administrators.
Nguyen leans into moody environmental storytelling this issue. From Mother’s arrival on Knossos to Mila’s sunset walk home. There are definite shapes and structures to the environments but it also does a good job of making you take a minute to just look at a panel and see where the bleeds occur and how that adds to it. The page design in this issue isn’t built for spectacle, there’s a plain efficacy to it but his art gets you to slow down and that helps the pace of things immensely.
Everything isn’t moody landscapes, there is an excellent sequence where that mood and forward plot momentum come together when Mother communes with her coven above Mata. She summons the spirits of her Mothers before her, like the blood she sacrificed everything is done shades of red against her black cloak. The mixture of red paint gives everything subtle bits of definition without lines and gives the image a magical quality. Those little bits of definition tell the reader bout the nature of this coven visually before Lemire explains things more technically. The Mothers who passed generations ago have less definition compared to their most recent addition who is still angry over Mother’s murderous deeds.
There is a lot “Ascender” #1 had to do, before taking into account the normal business of being a first issue. Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen, and letter Steve Wands, manage all of this mostly by not trying to explicitly check things off a preconceived list. There is a self-assured quality that you will buy into these new characters and the story it’s telling regardless of prior experience. “Ascender” maybe a sequel but it is also its own thing. “Ascender” #1 is a fine first issue that teases readers with new possibilities by treating it as ordinary.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – “Ascender” takes off with a new chapter that is enticing to both old and new readers.
