Continuing Image Comics’ domination of the creator owned market in comics, the team of Becky Cloonan, Andy Belanger and Le Loughridge set sail on an interplanetary adventure that is claustrophobic and unnerving in “Southern Cross” #1. Check out our spoiler free review of this week’s pick of the week to find out why you should be reading “Southern Cross” #1.
Written by Becky Cloonan
Illustrated by Andy Belanger
NOW BOARDING: Southern Cross, tanker flight 73 to TITAN! Alex Braith is on board retracing her sister’s steps to the refinery moon, hoping to collect her remains and find some answers. The questions keep coming though—how did her sister die? Where did her cabin mate disappear to? Who is that creep across the hall? And why does she always feel like she’s being watched? Inspired by classic mysteries and weird fiction, SOUTHERN CROSS is a crucible of creeping anxiety and fear as Braith struggles with the ghosts of her past on board a ship that holds secrets best kept buried.
“Southern Cross” freaked me out.
No, I mean it: reading “Southern Cross” left me breathless and with my heart pounding in my chest. Now, I wouldn’t say I’m claustrophobic or anything like that, but there was just something about “Southern Cross” that got me. A tightening in the chest, a shiver down my spine… ok, maybe I just have heart problems, but I like to think it’s because of how effective the book is. Telling the tale of Alex Braith’s journey to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, in order to investigate her sisters death, “Southern Cross” focuses on Alex’s six day trip on the titular ship and her confinement with the assorted characters aboard. Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger have clearly settled the book in the territory of science fiction, but it also exists in this strange place of horror where there are no monsters (so far as we know) and there are no outright scares, but the book is still somewhat terrifying.
It would not be surprising if a reference that pops up a lot in reference to “Southern Cross” #1 is Alien. The way that film is shot and paced to establish the confined space of the Nostromo that the crew must live and work in and that that space is the only thing separating them from, well, outer space makes the film scary well before the alien even shows up. “Southern Cross” brings that effect to the page with gusto, making this one of the most unsettling comics I’ve ever read. A lot of it comes down to the art team of Andy Belanger and Lee Loughridge, who seem to fill as much of every page as they possibly can. Not a single inch of the page is wasted in either creating the world of “Southern Cross” or creating that unnerving sense of claustrophobia in the reader. This is achieved by Belanger filling each panel with details of the world, especially in the wide shots where the vastness of space is juxtaposed by the busy, industrial machinery of the Southern Cross and the docking station the issue opens in. Any panel that isn’t a wide shot, though, is likely a close-up, held unnervingly tight on the characters, forcing the reader to be as intimate with the characters as the characters are with each other in the confined space of the ship.
This sense of nauseating closeness to the characters creates an interesting effect in combination with Becky Cloonan’s writing as the main character comes off as more than a little standoffish at first. It’s hard to get a read on Alex at first as she exudes this “angry at the world” presence that could create something of a barrier between her and the reader, but begins to make sense once the irritability caused by being in such cramped conditions transfers onto the reader. It becomes easy to understand Alex’s self-imposed isolation when, even in the comfort of the real world, the Southern Cross’ environment begins to feel more and more oppressive the more you read the issue. It’s an exercise in pulling the reader into the world of the comic by using the art to allow them to experience the conditions that the characters live in and allow the reader to feel what the characters are feeling. This is a comic where the are isn’t just there to tell the story, but to make you live the story.
Continued belowThis is all helped even more by the colours by Lee Loughridge which are just the icing on the cake for this book. Opting to wash pages in neon reds and greens and blues and pinks, the colours stand juxtaposed to the often overwhelming heavily inked shadows to contribute to the feeling on being trapped in the belly of a ship. The neon hues of each page reminded me of submarines and furthered the aesthetic of a lived-on, naval-inspired science fiction setting that evoked everything from Alien to Blade Runner to even something like Guardians Of The Galaxy. The vibrancy of the colours offset the darkness of the ship’s interiors and gave an artificiality to the setting that only helped instill that sense of unease in the reader as they read.
If there is one problem I had with “Southern Cross” is that it could have done with ending a page earlier. Cloonan and Belanger set up throughout the entire issue the fact that Alex is travelling to Titan to find out about the death of her sister. It’s an interesting premise and it immediately gives us an in as readers to Alex’s character and her state of mind going into the issue and also implies that there is something going on with her sister’s death meaning we want to keep reading to find out what. Then, on the second to last page, Cloonan and Belanger drop the bomb that all might not be as it seems on the Southern Cross and that there’s more going on than Alex originally thought. It would have been an effective closer for the issue if it weren’t for the fact that there was an actual final page after that designed to hook readers to come back for the next page. Problem is, I’m not entirely sure what the last page is meant to imply and because of that I felt the page before was a stronger close to the issue. Now, I’m sure that last page factors into the story and will be explained and, honestly, the net result is that I enjoyed this issue enough to want to come back for more. Perhaps I’ll look back on this paragraph when that page does make more sense and I’ll eat my words, but for now it felt out of place to me.
Still, “Southern Cross” is by no means a bad comic. Becky Cloonan, Andy Belanger and Lee Loughridge have created a story that is intense and unnerving, but at it’s heart is an emotional story of a girl trying to find out what happened to her sister. By drawing on the aesthetics of films like Alien and Blade Runner, “Southern Cross” creates a claustrophobic feel unlike any other in comics and outside of them. It’s a quiet, slow burn of a book that takes its time allowing the reader to immerse themsevles in the world and characters being created here as the oppressive atmosphere begins to set in. There’s a lot to like here if the references to Alien pique your interest as, while the lack of an actual alien may disappoint you, the atmosphere and feel of the book will certainly be familiar to you. “Southern Cross” is an interesting premise down well with a fantastic, claustrophobic atmosphere to back it up. I can’t wait to see where this one goes.
Final Verdict: 8.6 – For fans of sci-fi comics or anyone just looking for that next rush of fear running down your spine, this is the book to pick up.
