Writers: Christan Gossett and Bradley James Kayl Artists: Gossett (p), A.D. Coulter (3D guy), Snakebite (c)
Plot: Maya continues to tell the story of he husband Marcus' death, as the Nistaani give Marcus and the URRS the Pedigree.
Before I begin, I noticed that a "Dave Thomer" is quoted in "The People Cry Out" section. Dave! You cheeky bastard! Give me a call! (I went to school with him).
The first issue of The Red Star was worth the three bucks, as an intermittently fascinating allegory cast as a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid. But the second issue WHOA. Christian Gossett, A.D. Coulter, and Snakebite have created, art-wise, a terrific combo of computerized art and pencils. It's still rough in spots and not perfect, but it's a lot better than I have seen in recent years, where a character would suddenly wander onto a spaceship that looked like a model instead of a drawing, or John Byrne characters would look like they've walked in front of a blue screen.
But if the artwork isn't perfect, Gossett more than makes up for it in SCOPE. It's very difficult to achieve the widescreen effect in comics- no matter how hard Bryan Hitch tried, I found the first two issues of The Authority a crashing bore. Perhaps because there is more at stake here than the ego of Jenny Sparks. Every time I turned the page I was knocked flat by the panoramic effect, the sheer sweep of the story that was absolutely breathtaking. I rarely get this exploded-head feeling from an artist or book, Walter Simonson excepted. The tanks, the ships- all of it is done with utmost care, and one expects "Directed by George Miller" or "Directed by Rob Bowman" to be in the credits, or "Score by Mark Snow" or "Score by David Arnold." Yes, it's that good.
None of it would matter, however, if we weren't emotionally involved in the story, and we are. I still remember the chill I felt in the first issue when I realized those black things were graves. The sorrow Maya feels is very well expressed in the first few pages, and the effect of telling the story in flashback enhances the story, better than it would if we were just dropped into things. Normally I'm disappointed when I learn that the characters we're following are dead meat early on (paging Rising Stars) but this works. It's the old way of telling a story, so what we want to know is not what happened, but how and why.
I'm not sure if Gossett and co-writer Bradley James Kayl can actually keep this up. It's rare to sustain momentum in comics these days. And they are inexperienced writers, even if they have shown a sure hand so far. However, in terms of showing how new genres other than superheroes can succeed in the comics medium. They desperately need to. The Red Star gives hope to me, for it seems to pave the way to the future. Sales are good; if they momentum is sustained and word of mouth grows, comics could have their first REAL mainstream hit.
