IDW Publishing 2019
Written by Delilah S. Dawson
Illustrated by Francesco Gaston
Coloured by Sebastian Cheng
Lettered by Shawn Lee
Like many late-21st-century teens, geeky 16-year-old Vess gets packed off to spend her summer at Space Camp—which is literally in space. Tragically, a shuttle accident sends her and the rest of the passengers careening toward a cold, frosty death among the stars. But when a gigantic, space-faring water bear miraculously rescues Vess and her beloved retro Discman, it’s the beginning of an extraordinary friendship and an incredible journey home, all set to the nostalgic tunes of Vess’s 1990s-heavy playlist.
Honestly just seeing this Tardigrade on the cover was more than enough to pique my curiosity, I mean they micro-animals so to see one who can survive in space and is this size is something we don't really see every day. Though they are not uncommon to be used as creatures to enlarge and wreck havoc but they aren't like that in reality. So this had me and after reading it I think I might love the character. Though he calls himself a space pig they are known as little water bears and I think I like Space Pig much better.
Delilah does a marvellous job with how she is telling this story. The way way the book is structured is superb and thanks to this great pacing with moves the story & plot development and the character development ever forward. This allows for that natural ebb & flow where nothing feels out of place or forced it's incredibly smooth. The opening is great as it grabs the attention of the reader and piques that curiosity encouraging the reader to keep going. We meet Vess here as we learn how a group of kids are going to space camp. Let's face it I would've gone to space camp if there were one so it's a totally original idea that intrigues me.
There are a lot things that we see throughout this book that have this unique look at what we know and what we don't know. Delilah creates this really strong aesthetic with the characters and where she leads the story to. It is impressive and honestly nothing like I was anticipating which is always a good thing.
The interiors here are an absolute delight. The linework that we are seeing here is fantastic! How the varying weights are utilised to create this beautiful attention to detail is spectacular to see. Also I love seeing the progression of familiar items but taken to a more advanced look since this is the future but not far in the future so the way Francesco makes this happen through his creativity and imagination is stellar work. This includes the Tardigrade as well it has such a realistic look for being so damn huge. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels is impressive and shows off a great eye for storytelling. That we see backgrounds like we do here is phenomenal and really enhances the moments and brings us a nice size and scope to the story. The colour work is beautiful. I like the way we see the tones and hues throughout and the light sources that create shading and shadows. While I don't understand the full effects of a person exposed to space what we see here is kind of a disappointment to me but it still works well.
This is just wonderful from head to toe and side to side. What I see here is an incredibly well told story full of surprises, intense moments and some great humour thrown in. Vess' journey is just beginning as she finds herself out of her element, freaked out and still making new friends. This will be a surprise hit for IDW!