Alterna Comics 2018
By Patrick Mullholland
An ancient power source that can manipulate space and time is buried deep on a barren world and Juno, the last human, must embark on a dangerous journey to find it. Her mission is simple: go back in time and save humanity from extinction. The cost? Her life.
When you find a company that puts out a good product you keep going back for more and possibly extend that to other products in the brand. Trust me everything that I have read so far from Alterna Comics has been incredibly solid, interesting and fun. So it should come as no surprise that here I am again with another new series from Alterna.
I like Science Fiction and it’s a wonderful genre to include all kinds of different stories mostly set in space. We don’t waste any time here in getting into the thick of things. It is a great tactic to go into a story in progress and let join in and learn about Juno on the fly. Seeing her in action and getting to figure out what she’s doing and why as we go along allows Patrick to not only flesh her character out but it also allows him to give us all the background information that we really need. Is it all there?, no of course not but that’s the point.
The way this is structured is fantastic! From first to last page the ebb & flow of what we see is really extremely well done. I like how we see the use of the technology presented to us and yes this includes that flying robot ball iO. Aw it needs a better name heh but all combined with the suit that she wears, which really makes her look androgynous in appearance it creates this really nice effect. The way they interact with one another shows a bond and friendship that while expected is better than I would’ve imagined. That they seem to be uneducated about where it is they go to retrieve more crystals is an interesting way to go. I’d like to know more about that as the remaining three issues go.
I’m a huge fan of anyone who can write and illustrate their own story and Patrick is amazing on both counts. The interiors have an almost traditional comic book style to them and it mixes a bit of superhero into things only through visual depiction. The attention to detail is spectacular and the varying weights in the linework do wonders whether they are subtle or bold. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a very impressive eye for storytelling. The colours are marvellous and the gradation from bold to soft is impressive to see as is the fact that sometimes it’s just colour and not linework that we see to separate imagery. While I am a huge advocate of backgrounds the way that Patrick utilises them is seriously effective for the storytelling.
The imagination and creativity we see here is remarkable. From the concept and through it’s execution what we see here makes me incredibly happy as a reader. It is nice to see that someone can come up something original that we haven’t seen before and to use a format of storytelling that is uncommon, not unheard of though, shows that he’s willing to take chances. He has the chops to do things that go against stereotype and make something in this book that vividly captures the imagination of the reader.
Witty, fun and suspenseful in some wonderful ways this is a new voice on the horizon and its one the industry needs.