Let me be upfront about this comic right away by stating that this issue was a little over my head for me. In saying that though, I love when my mind is challenged to understand or connect ideas especially with a comic. Gonzo Cosmic has that right balance of curiosity with a hint of “damn I need to take some general science classes.” The opening scenes start right away with scandal written all over it. One dude is killed, a woman is frantically running for help, and a faster-than-light cruiser is being unveiled. Pretty much all of those things have awesome written all over this series. Still not quite sure what is happening yet but a good starting point. We get introduced to our villain, Ira. He crashes our cruiser party by stealing the cruiser for his own personal needs. Andel, our protagonist, seems to be the captain of the ship. He doesn’t fly the thing but has some serious understanding of how everything works. So held at gunpoint, Andel, Sadie, Roland, and Mandy, other members of the crew, take off in what seems to be a death wish made by Ira. I would describe him as a veteran that suffers from PTSD.
I couldn’t help but get sucked in from this comic from the get go. Even though the opening is all over place, it was hard not to see where the closing was headed. The art by Garry Mac has potential. Although it is very stiff, I think the rhythm of it fits with the story. The characters seem somewhat robotic to me. So having the movements look and feel so hard plays well within the development. What I really couldn’t just get pass was the overall setting of the story. Clearly we are dealing with something from the future, but it was hard to distinguish what these people’s goals were or purpose in life. I really think the author’s note at the end does a good job of explaining what exactly we are looking at. Probably by issue 2 or 3, the audience would have figured out, but still sometimes it is nice to give away one theme in order to open up more understanding of other themes being played with. The setting, put by the author, is a post scarcity or post capitalist world. He questions what the world would look like. I am pretty interested in what Mac has to say, judging this by our first issue.
Andel steps up to Ira and eventually we find out that Andel has this wonderful power. He can bend time. Not sure how often he uses this tool for I am sure he knows its dangers, but this should make for an epic superhero leader. I really don’t want to ruin the ending, but the set-up of everything in the ship is exactly what I just said; a set up. The comic has much more to say than just focusing on some new cruiser. It is only the beginning…. Ok I can’t help but give away one thing. At the end, Andel has to travel somewhere and he totally enters what looks like nothing short of a yonic figure. It is actually hilarious, and not sure if it was Mac’s intention. Either way it made me think that the key to understand all things lies in a woman’s vagina. Probably true. So check out this comic from Unthank Comics. It will likely grab your attention.
Score: 4/5
Writer/Artist: Garry Mac Colorist: Jim Devlin Publisher: Unthank Comics Price: £3.00 or roughly $5.00 Website