After being separated by chance and circumstances outside their control, a family desperately tries to reunite. This simple premise is at the heart of “Space Story” by Fiona Ostby (West Margin Press), which takes place on earth and just beyond it, in a time period that’s not specified but that doesn’t seem too far off.
Written, Illustrated, Colored & Lettered by Fiona OstbyCover by Fiona Ostby
Published by West Margin PressTwo women fall in love and start a family on a dying Earth.
Only one escapes to space.
Her family is still on the planet.
They won’t give up until they find each other again.
From debut author Fiona Ostby, Space Story weaves an interstellar tale of discovering love and finding strength, courage, and hope—even in the darkest moments.
A meteorite falls to Earth in a landscape colored all in red. Then a ringed space station hangs above earth highlighted in blue. Finally, we enter a yellow world for a quick meet-cute between two students. Then we flash forward again to the blue space station in an unknown time period in the future. Hannah is adjusting to life on a space station high above the earth. She seems depressed, unable to find joy in her sterile environment. It takes a while to connect this character to the lively woman from the meet-cute but Ostby’s use of color clues us in. Each time period is given its own color palette, and the stories alternate until the end when all three colors come together as the family is reunited.
Once you realize how the colors signal a time/character change, the story becomes easier to follow. In the past, Hannah and her girlfriend Leah are highlighted in yellow as they begin a relationship, get married, and start a family. But they’re also living in perilous times, as an unspecified (but depressingly familiar) set of conditions make their homeland unlivable. In the present, Hannah has made it to the space station alone, and her sections are blue, which fits her isolated and lonely mood. Present-day Leah and daughter Bird are colored in lively red as they try to make the most of their situation on earth. When they find out they aren’t able to board a shuttle to the station where Hannah is, they build a rocket and venture out to the stars on their own.
The main characters in this book are queer but this fact is presented as completely normal. They don’t struggle with their identity; instead, they struggle with ill-timed accidents, engineering problems, and the environmental degradation of the planet. It’s awesome to see such matter-of-fact representation of a lesbian relationship, and the main pair are pretty darned cute. Hannah is a worry wort whose anxiety is balanced out by Leah’s can-do attitude and mad engineering skills. Both women don’t fit the norm for female body types in comics, either. They have leg hair and bulging bellies. When Hannah meets the resident hairdresser, she’s a butch older lady who looks like a real person might. I’ve already used the word refreshing but I’m going to use it again — it’s refreshing! These women have bodies that look real, despite the fact that they’re drawn in a very simple style with simple line work and shading. Their facial expressions are cartoon-like but that doesn’t mean they’re not expressive. You can feel Hannah’s sorrow at being separated from her family, and Leah’s moments of joy absolutely show on her face.
Ostby’s simple style and use of only three colors may not appeal to all but I thought it was very effective. At times the characters were difficult to keep track of because of the style and jumps in time periods, which makes the color motif essential. There are a few panels with more detailed imagery, especially of fruit. These make it clear that the artist is drawing bodies the way they do intentionally. I dig it.
“Space Story” is a simple but earnest story about a family fighting against the odds to reunite and survive. It’s a classic, universal plot, and one that works well here. Because of the three timelines and little dialogue, if the plot had been more complicated, I think it would’ve been too hard to follow. As is, it’s an enjoyable story to read in an afternoon and a great example of one that effortlessly includes queer women. And (spoiler alert) it has a happy ending, to boot! “Space Story” put a smile on my face and makes me hope Fiona Ostby will have the opportunity to keep drawing and creating.
