Welcome to our Summer Comics Binge of “The Manhattan Projects” by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra. I’ve read work by both creators before, namely Hickman’s X title relaunch and half of “East of West” (that’s on hold until I finish “The Manhattan Projects”), and Pitarra’s short-lived “Leviathan.” I’ll be reviewing a volume of the series every week. Be warned, this review does contain spoilers.
Cover by Nick PitarraThe Manhattan Projects Vol. 6
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Illustrated by Nick Pitarra
Colored by Michael Garland
Lettered by Rus WootonThe sixth volume of the award-winning THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS: THE SUN BEYOND THE STARS. Collects THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS: THE SUN BEYOND THE STARS #1-4
This is it, folks – the final volume of “The Manhattan Projects.” As I found out last week, this volume was released after the series went on hiatus and brought a format change with it. This format change reduces the number of story threads in the series per arc, with this one telling the story of Yuri and Laika. I personally found this change to be a really positive one; it allowed for a really focused story and, while it was an element I really enjoyed in previous volumes, it removes a lot of the crazy energy from the series. Where I’ve often found the series to be stuffed full of ideas and everything rapidly escalating, this volume is a bit calmer which perfectly suits the story being told.
In the first issue, we’re introduced to Primor, a Grey Sionnu, who has four huge great alien creatures that have the ability to destroy worlds, called Spores. Initially, I assumed that this character would be the villain of the arc – he’d set out across the galaxy destroying planets for fun, but as the volume goes on, we quickly discover that the Sionnu regime is built on the back of the enslavement of the Greys, and that Primor is out to liberate the rest of his race. The volume then follows as Yuri and Laika reunite and set out to transport Primor to his home world. When they arrive and Primor is able to launch the Spores, Hickman and Pitarra deliver an extremely affecting scene. Hickman attributes an extremely powerful speech to Primor while the “monstrous… and most righteous genocide” occurs to every Sionnu individual that has enabled the enslavement of the Greys, while Pitarra depicts the event with a full sense of scale.
I’ve been unable to remove morality from scale of destruction in the series at times, mainly back in volume 2 with the scientists’ nuclear plan, but this scene was different. It brings a great sense of victory and liberation that is increased due to the sacrifice of the heroes involved. Having been profoundly affected by Primor’s success, Yuri and Laika’s demise also felt very poignant, even though I wasn’t exactly sure whether it was meant to be. Yuri and Laika don’t really get along throughout the volume, and they don’t entirely at their deaths either, but there’s something undeniably sad about them helplessly gravitating towards a nearby sun. That poignancy is furthered by these pages not only being the end of their journeys, but the end of the entire series too.
While this volume is far more emotive than any other in the series, that’s not to say that “The Manhattan Projects” has lost its other charms. In the first issue, Hickman introduces Ryleth the Hammer, a Justice Master on Faraway Station. Ryleth’s attitude towards the enforcement of the law is interesting, to say the least. He understands the law, but chooses to enforce it with extremely varying degrees of severity. For one character, Ryleth is unusually empathetic to the crime (of accidental extinction of a species, no less) because the offending party didn’t realise that the food he was eating was the eggs of rapidly depleting species. This in itself brings laughs, but when Ryleth then decides to execute the criminal, not because of this crime, but due to a minor offence of graffiti years prior, it’s shocking. He wants to make sure that punishments are unpredictable to discourage anyone from breaking any laws. It’s a ludicrous and impractical theory being enacted that feels perfectly at home within the pages of “The Manhattan Projects.”
Continued belowRyleth isn’t the only source of humor though. There’s a plethora of humorous moments throughout the volume, such as Rys suddenly speaking English instead of “Blarg,” or being used as cover and Yuri having to shoot through his mouth opening. (It seemed like an ingenious move on the page, but now I’ve written it out, it seems much stranger). There’s the continued lies being told by UNa and the strange taste of data that the Sionnu experience which, if you don’t laugh at, will just weird you out instead.
As I think I’ve noted about every volume, Pitarra’s artwork is great throughout. He never hesitates to include another crazy looking alien into a panel. His detailed and individualistic character designs make the reaches of outer space simultaneously recognisable and alien. More than this though, there’s a few new camera angles being utilised that give the book another element of dynamism. With Hickman changing the scripts from their previously established style, it makes sense that Pitarra changes things visually too.
Michael Garland takes over the colorist role from Jordie Bellaire for this volume and does an excellent and seamless job. Bellaire didn’t get to color a huge amount of aliens, but when she did, they were extremely vibrant and Garland matches her, being in the advantageous position of having a book littered with aliens.
Overall, “The Manhattan Projects” Volume 6 delivers a great story that has far more emotion than its predecessors and finally (FINALLY) embraces the space side of the story, and serves as a high for the series to end on. It is a shame that right now this volume seems like the end of the series, with no word on if or when volume 7 could be released, so we’ll possibly never find out what happened to the rest of the characters we left behind. Nevertheless I’ve had a lot of fun reading through the series over the last six weeks. It’s been an absolutely wild ride from start to finish, with Hickman continually adding crazy new ideas that have been depicted in their eccentric glory by Pitarra and Browne, which Bellaire and Garland have added the crucial final touches to, all the while Wooton unobtrusively guided us through the chaos. Until another volume, this has been “The Manhattan Projects.”
