Outpost Zero #2 immediately picks up where the events of the double-sized introductory issue left off. In our first issue, we get a fantastic sense of the environment our characters get to play in. There is a wonderful magnitude to the dystopia of this particular future tale, and the characters are written in a carefully balanced way. Now that the stage has been set for our story, issue #2 begins to unravel the mysterious death of a main character while illustrating what Outpost Zero will ultimately be about.

Sean McKeever, an Eisner Award-winning master wordsmith, should have a parade thrown in his honor, if for no other reason than having these characters sound like real people. Sure, the circumstances are fantastical, but the people are portrayed realistically. I should also mention that Alea, to use the popular nomenclature of our times, is bae. As a protagonist, I will follow her until the day the dystopian cows come home (which is not likely, considering the world is covered in ice now).

This particular issue focuses on bereavement and the complicated emotional spectrum people will go through when faced with traumatic loss. I especially love the way that the character Lyss deals with grief. She happily shares a handful of stories to the confusion of everyone around her. “How are you not bawling right now after sharing that?” someone asks.

“Good times are good times. It feels nice to think about them,” she responds. And like, yeah! This is great dialogue, and it feels nice to share it with you.

The art is handled by Alexande Tefenkgi and Jean-Francois Beaulieu. It retains a kind of hand-drawn quality without sacrificing the stunning detail of the expressions or environments. For my personal preference, this is the best of both worlds. It does not look like it was drawn by a computer in a Nickelodeon content creation factory, but it does look like it might easily be adapted to animation. Take a look at how clearly bold and inventive these three frames are next to each other…

While I am excited about the book and eager to see where this story goes, I am hoping that the subsequent issues take us a bit further. I love the slow-moving development of this very human story, but I did feel like I got ahead of this one. Outpost Zero is doing so much right, maybe it’s just my greediness that compels me to rush them along.

Creative Team:  Sean McKeever (writer), Alexandre Tefenkgi (artist), Jean-Francois Beaulieu (artist)
Publisher:  Image Comics
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