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‘Venus #1:’ Advance Comic Book Review

If BOOM! Studios releases a science fiction comic, chances are I’ll take my time to read it.

Venus #1, written by Rick Loverd, starts and never quite stops. Within a page and after a little exposition, we’re thrust into a red-alert situation in which the crew of the Mayflower, a large space shuttle, has to make a crash landing on Venus.

The extremely talented female pilot, Commander Manashe, is thrust into the position of Captain and has to constantly evaluate, re-evaluate, fight for the re-evaluation, make a decision, and realize that whether that decision was right or wrong a second ago the situation has changed since then, so another decision has to be made. As a reader I was swept along without really thinking about it, and Manashe was a large part of that – strong willed, smart, bold, and unafraid to stand up for her decision, all with the goal of saving as many people as she can. She reminds me of the best Star Trek captains.

The crew of the Mayflower was sent to Venus to terraform it, presumably to save the people of Earth from some apocalyptic scenario. Now, they are fighting for their own survival.

Everything is pretty clear and straightforward thus far. It’s simply the pacing and constant threat of death that leads you into and through the first chapter of this story.

The art by Huang Danlan is good. He keeps the focus on the characters and lets us fill in the details of the world the characters inhabit. The colors by Marcio Menyz are also solid. My one qualm is that, aside from the stakes being created by the words and dialogue, the visual imagery didn’t add as much to heighten the tension. It is enough to move you forward and to clearly show where the characters are at any given time. Much like the premise, thus far, it is a very simple visual palette, and I don’t mean that as a bad thing.

I will say that I am intrigued enough to read the second issue of this sci-fi adventure of discovery. There was something about the simplicity I really enjoyed.

Phillip Kelly, Fanbase Press Contributor

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