Image Comics 2017
Written by Ryan O’Sullivan
Illustrated by Plaid Klaus
Lettered by Aditya Bidikar
This is the story of Ana and Gabe, the last two humans left alive in the galaxy. They're low on fuel, they're low on food, and they're low on psychedelic space froot, but they're still determined to make it to the promised land: hippy-paradise, super-planet Euphoria. This is the story of their journey, the friends and enemies they made along the way, and how the universe responded to those who dared to live freely within it.
I love having no idea what I’m getting into when I start reading a book! Why because it’s the experience of discovering something unknown to you is really a thrill. More so when it’s something different, unique, wacky and all kind of strange. It’s kind of like Will & Grace (where Will is straight as far as I can tell) were Cheech & Chong travelling through space having Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Now if you can picture that madness that I tried to mash up then you are going to love this!
I think the fact that this starts off the way it does is well done. I like that there’s no beginning, no how they met, no why they are together none of that it just starts at a point in time and moves forward. It also happens to be a point in time where they are stealing fuel and end up getting for free through a series of incredibly funny events. Right off the bat the humour in this is going to be totally adult, totally stoner and totally funny and the fact that Ryan is able to write humour in this way is amazing. Also on a note to Ryan how much “research” did you do to understand the behaviour?
So I had no idea what some of the wordage that’s being used here and I don’t think we’re supposed to, at least not right away. We get some of the lingo as the story goes forward and it makes things easier to understand and then the visual humour comes into play, which we’ll get into in a bit but the subtle stuff is delightful. Alright so we know they steal fuel and apparently run from the space cops, uhm the flying police cars laughing my butt off on that one!
We are also introduced to someone or something that combines Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes into one being. Again subtle humour involved with him too but make no mistake the man thing well okay yeah that’s all I’m going to say for now.
Plaid, A. what cool name, B. what an amazing talent find here. The work he does suits this book better than I would’ve imagined. His use of page layouts by using angles and perspective are well done and I appreciate his eye for storytelling. There’s a creativity and imagination on display here that’s marvellous to see play out before our eyes. The alien species he creates, the hallucinatory adventures of an octopus headed man was a stellar standout moment. The subtle use of imagery throughout is adventurous and almost a game to spot. He really manages to breathe the right kind of life into this.
This is one instance where coming into the middle of something isn’t a detriment. This grabs your attention, makes your mind wonder and wander, engages the reader in ways that leave you wanting more. That is exactly what it’s supposed to do. It is definitely a bold and daring way to start off a series but it pays off in dividends. I love Ana’s attitude while not understanding her fear of the A.I. but I agree with it’s not the destination that matters it’s all about the journey getting there!