IMAGE COMICS/Skybound – @ImageComics @Skybound
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Joseph Keatinge
ART: Bret Blevins
COLORS: Bret Blevins
LETTERS: Rus Wooton
EDITOR: Sean Mackiewicz
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (June 2018)
Rated T / Teen Plus
Stellar created by Robert Kirkman and Marc Silvestri
Stellar is a new comic book series created by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) and Marc Silvestri (Uncanny X-Men, Cyberforce). It is based on Pilot Season: Stellar (cover dated: July 2010), one of many one-shot comic books that Silvestri's company, Top Cow Productions, published under the title, Pilot Season, which introduced new comic book characters and concepts.
Stellar the comic book series focuses on a young woman who was an “ultimate weapon,” meant to end an intergalactic war, but who is now a bounty hunter. Stellar is written by Joseph Keatinge; drawn and colored by Bret Blevins; and lettered by Rus Wooton.
Stellar #1 introduces a young woman known only as “Stellar.” She is now a bounty hunter, scouring broken worlds for high-value bounties. However, those worlds are broken partly because of her; Stellar was once a child transformed into the ultimate weapon, one that would end an intergalactic war. Stellar searches for redemption, but her past has come back to fight her.
Stellar #1 has some striking graphics. Bret Blevins (New Mutants; Sleepwalker) offers quirky illustrations, and his coloring ranges from radiant to muted and painterly. Blevins work here makes me think of late 1970s and early 1980s Heavy Metal comics. Rus Wooton's lettering itself has a illustrative quality. Together, Blevins and Wooton present one impressive graphics package.
As for the story, I think of 1980s science fiction and fantasy comics published by independent comic book publishers, such as Alien Encounters (FantaCo Enterprises and Eclipse Comics), Dalgoda (Fantagraphics Books), and Alien Fire (Kitchen Sink Press), to name a few. I am intrigued by Stellar #1, although I do not think that the narrative contents of this first issue are strong enough to make for an exceptional or particularly special first issue.
6 out of 10
[This comic book has a preview of Outpost Zero by Sean Kelley McKeever, Alexandre Tefenkgi, and Jean-Francois Beaulieu.]
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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