This first chapter of an eight-issue miniseries from Dark Horse promises sci-fi drama high above the Earth – and, for the most part, it delivers, laying out an urgent situation to be negotiated by some brilliant minds.
Written by Philip Gelatt
Illustrated by Brett WeldeleTrapped in space, the genetically engineered geniuses known as “vitros” must band together and create a plan to get back to Earth before their failing satellite turns into a deathtrap!
* Created by Academy Award–winning producer Aron Warner (Shrek).
* Art by Eisner-nominated painter Brett Weldele (The Surrogates).
* Written by Philip Gelatt (Petrograd)
We start this story off in medias res, as a group of genius teenagers aboard a satellite discovers their orbit is deteriorating. Their life support systems are rigged to fail – but these are awfully clever kids, and in amongst their arguments and betrayals, they might find a way to save themselves.
It’s a relatively large cast of characters, marshaled into view by the narrating voice of one Herman Toulane. He’s an engaging narrator, with a nice touch of sarcasm, and we learn a bit about his personal history as events move forward. These are by no means perfect human beings, in demeanor or in capability, and the acrimony and suspicion between the crewmates comes across clearly in the accompanying dialogue. And while Herman’s narration does sometimes feel intrusive, over-explaining elements which we can discern from the dialogue, having an inside perspective on the act Herman performs toward the end of the issue makes for chilling reading.
In the end, the solicit does lay out the concept more clearly than the comic itself does, but there’s something to be said for having to put the pieces together yourself. Meanwhile, the reason why these guys were sent to space remains unclear, and seems to be our hook into the next issue. There are just enough hints dropped – one of them being the title – to keep us curious, with the backstories of most of the characters remaining tantalizingly vague.
Brett Weldele’s art is misty and murky, like peering through swamp water at the events of the comic. It’s not an archetypical sci-fi look; we may have gotten used to fluorescent lighting and sterile-white rooms to convey that. But this isn’t a new piece of technology these kids are living in (the space suits in particular look like something out of the ’70s), and the fact that this old clunker has a miasma of its own – particularly as the oxygen levels drop – lends a nice touch of atmosphere to the proceedings.
Behind it all, the characters are laid out in loose but sure-handed strokes. While they’re easy to differentiate at first glance, and they certainly express the fear and desperation they’re feeling, they don’t exactly wear their individual personalities on their sleeves; these are cryptic individuals, a little too smart to be legible in terms of motivation. Since the potential betrayal of one crewmate is one of the driving forces in this issue, this struggle to understand just what a given character is thinking adds a nice dose of tension.
Meanwhile, the technological elements are rendered in just enough detail to imply complexity without necessarily illustrating it. The focus is on the characters, with the claustrophobia of their situation coming across through tight compositions and extreme close-ups. And while the murkiness sometimes makes a panel difficult to scan, the issue as a whole reads smoothly, dialing up the drama with well-crafted page after well-crafted page.
All told, this is an intriguing, if not entirely perfect, first issue that does a fair amount of world-building and scene-setting in little space. And while it’s a bit early to read for subtext, this Generation Y-er thinks there might be an overarching metaphor here, and a fairly apt one at that. At any rate, it’s hard not to look forward to the second issue of “Pariah”. We’ve got a politically complex – and quite mysterious – group of people to deal with, and they’re certain to have all kinds of secrets to reveal.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy
