Orbiter review....
May. 23rd, 2004 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fajrdrakoI wrote this today for the Ottawa Science Fiction Society Statement:
Orbiter by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran (DC Comics, 2003)
This hardcover SF graphic novel is by two of the finest talents in comics. Warren Ellis is a generally cynical bad boy writer; Colleen Doran is known for her intricate gentle art on "A Distant Soil".
Together they have produced a work that is atypical of both, and more like mainstream science fiction than anything in comics today. Both inspired by and dedicated to the Columbia, the work begins with an introduction by Warren Ellis: "This is a book about going back into space. Because it's waiting for us and it's where we're meant to be... Human spaceflight remains experimental. It is very dangerous. It demands great ingenuity. But we are old enough, now, to do these things. Growing up is hard. But we cannot remain children, standing on the shore or in front of the TV set."
The story is set ten years after the last shuttle took off from Kennedy Space Centre, and reappeared. It reappears with one survivor - who has not aged ten years, but who appears to be insane. The rest of the crew are missing and the shuttle is covered with a strange menbrane, and dust from Mars. A team of experts is assembled to find out what happened.
The ending is downright inspirational. The message of the story: believe in dreams and ambitions, don't think conventionally, there is more in heaven and earth than we have dreamt of.
Orbiter by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran (DC Comics, 2003)
This hardcover SF graphic novel is by two of the finest talents in comics. Warren Ellis is a generally cynical bad boy writer; Colleen Doran is known for her intricate gentle art on "A Distant Soil".
Together they have produced a work that is atypical of both, and more like mainstream science fiction than anything in comics today. Both inspired by and dedicated to the Columbia, the work begins with an introduction by Warren Ellis: "This is a book about going back into space. Because it's waiting for us and it's where we're meant to be... Human spaceflight remains experimental. It is very dangerous. It demands great ingenuity. But we are old enough, now, to do these things. Growing up is hard. But we cannot remain children, standing on the shore or in front of the TV set."
The story is set ten years after the last shuttle took off from Kennedy Space Centre, and reappeared. It reappears with one survivor - who has not aged ten years, but who appears to be insane. The rest of the crew are missing and the shuttle is covered with a strange menbrane, and dust from Mars. A team of experts is assembled to find out what happened.
The ending is downright inspirational. The message of the story: believe in dreams and ambitions, don't think conventionally, there is more in heaven and earth than we have dreamt of.
