Titan Comics 2017
Written by Joe Haldeman
Illustrated by Marvano
Translated by Gay Haldeman
William Mandella, a young physics student, has been conscripted into the United Nations Exploratory Force. As a member of an elite task force, he and his comrades are to be sent into the depths of space to battle the alien race that has recently attacked the ships of human colonists. William is witness to the harshest realities of war as training for the mission begins, and he sees that humans have taken on a fight for which they are in no way ready...
Colour me intrigued. I hadn’t expected this to be as dark and depressing as it is but that’s okay because the honesty that I feel from reading it dictates it should be this way. There is a recurring theme in stories today where humans think they are the playground bully and have the right and wherewithal to go after and destroy those different from them. Hell it’s in American politics front and center at the moment. So the real question I have to ask myself is are we defending ourselves from those who would destroy us or is something that would be preventable from just talking and trying to work something out? I like that from what I’ve seen in this issue that questions out there.
That we see things through Mandella’s eyes and it’s not censored is great. We see how he thinks and feels about things and it makes a definite impact on me reading this. I think the characterisation is extremely well done and the way the story is structured is smart. We kind of jump through the beginning a bit so we can get a sense of his life, upbringing and how he gets to where the story really takes place but it’s done well. I don’t feel like i’m missing anything and that’s impressive.
Huge fan of the artwork here. The interiors have this wonderful attention to detail to them, the stark darkness of space as the backdrop is beautifully used. The utilisation of page layouts through angles, perspective and even backgrounds put us firmly where we need to be at any given moment. That the violence we do see is more inferred than graphic is tasteful and leaves that strong impression as well.
That this is so unlike most anything else i’ve ever read has me looking at this in a different way. I like that too because we can fall into a rut where we read the same thing over and over again no matter how differently someone tries to tell it. This comes across as an extremely original and unique take on space exploration, travel, training and war with another species. Add to the fact that we haven’t seen this species yet makes it even more intriguing to finally see what they do indeed look like.
That these folks generally fly around and fight in these space shuttles is mind blowingly cool. I mean finally we’re seeing what we use today instead of some interpretation of something that doesn’t exist yet.
Are you ready for something completely and utterly different? If so it’s here and waiting for you!