The Sympathizers – Written by Justin Robinson / Artist by Aneurin Wright.A quick primer Space Doubles is a mini-series that has two stories per issue. Each story is totally separate from the other stories. I consider it to be a lot like the TV show “The Outer Limits” only with an unlimited CGI budget.
Jim: The Sympathizers was a great story. They used the Three Laws of Robotics from Isaac Asimov which was an immediate plus. The premise is a group of Aliens crash land on Earth and after twenty years of second class citizen status they are given an equal status with humans. The proof of this is all robots now recognize them as humans.
Then the same group of bad guy Aliens that drove the Aliens from their home world show up and start to attack earth. Relocation camps are set-up and the whole Japanese interment camps of the United States in WWII is relived. Humans who are friends of the Aliens (sympathizers) plot to end their misery.
The ending is wonderful little twist that I do not want to give away, but needless to say it was an appropriate ending. A well told story.
The art was solid also. Mr. Wright draw a cool Quasaar (the name of the Aliens). I loved his robots, especially Giskard who had a heavy Jetson style influence to him, but was really well done. In the span of a few pages the artist drew battle scenes, personal scenes, a political rally, a prison camp and did all very well.
“Sympathizers” was a winner in my book.
Gwen: I enjoyed this story. It did a decent job of telling a short story over a long span of time. There were some things that weren't explained to my satisfaction, but that was easily overlooked. I liked the ending, it worked with the theme of the story and did what science fiction does best - told the human story in a fantastical situation.
The art was a lot of fun - I got a kick out of the fish-like aliens and I thought the character expressions were well done. Still, the best thing the art did was the layouts - it really helped to tell the story and draw the reader into this alternate reality.
Overall, a good, fun and yet thought provoking tale.
Saucerful of Secrets – Writer Jason Hall – Artists – Ron Chan and Rich Ellis / Ron Chan Inker and Grayscaler Steve Talaba
Jim: What a great little story. I'll start with the artwork first. I’m not sure who did what, as we have two pencillers listed, but it was very well done. It had solid clean lines, a straightforward layout. What really worked with the art is how solid and realistic it was and how that offset the whole premise of the story.
I can really say too much about the story without giving it away, but I’ll just say that the future is not all we would like it to be. Also after you read the story the lingering questions as to what is real as opposed to what is not real is left hanging in your mind. A wonderful disturbing tale of a bleak future, that as all good science fiction stories do, reflect today.
Gwen: I enjoyed this story. It did a decent job of telling a short story over a long span of time. There were some things that weren't explained to my satisfaction, but that was easily overlooked. I liked the ending, it worked with the theme of the story and did what science fiction does best - told the human story in a fantastical situation.
The art was a lot of fun - I got a kick out of the fish-like aliens and I thought the character expressions were well done. Still, the best thing the art did was the layouts - it really helped to tell the story and draw the reader into this alternate reality.
Overall, a good, fun and yet thought provoking tale.
Saucerful of Secrets – Writer Jason Hall – Artists – Ron Chan and Rich Ellis / Ron Chan Inker and Grayscaler Steve TalabaJim: What a great little story. I'll start with the artwork first. I’m not sure who did what, as we have two pencillers listed, but it was very well done. It had solid clean lines, a straightforward layout. What really worked with the art is how solid and realistic it was and how that offset the whole premise of the story.
I can really say too much about the story without giving it away, but I’ll just say that the future is not all we would like it to be. Also after you read the story the lingering questions as to what is real as opposed to what is not real is left hanging in your mind. A wonderful disturbing tale of a bleak future, that as all good science fiction stories do, reflect today.
Also I love the covers and would love to own the "Saucerful" cover.
Another winner - appropriately enough Space Doubles has two great stories.
Gwen: I was honestly somewhat confused by this story at first, but by the time I got to the end the plot was mostly cleared up. I really like the art, especially how much they managed to do with a black and white setting.
As I said, the plot was somewhat confusing. I think the problem came from trying to introduce a foreign 'future' setting without having the time to really lay it out. Still, the writer gets his point across in the end and there's enough to the story that doesn't depend on understanding the world that the reader is left pondering the implications of the character's choices.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I'd like to see more work from these creators.
Gwen: I was honestly somewhat confused by this story at first, but by the time I got to the end the plot was mostly cleared up. I really like the art, especially how much they managed to do with a black and white setting.
As I said, the plot was somewhat confusing. I think the problem came from trying to introduce a foreign 'future' setting without having the time to really lay it out. Still, the writer gets his point across in the end and there's enough to the story that doesn't depend on understanding the world that the reader is left pondering the implications of the character's choices.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I'd like to see more work from these creators.
This is a book that I can support and really look forward to each issue. How much more bang for your buck can you get than with two complete stories every issue. Plus some great little science-fiction tales that are running the gambit from 50's horror tales to classic tales that have a moral or lesson to teach us about today.
Thanks so much for another thoughtful review of our project! I'm really happy that you guys seemed to dig everything for the most part. It's always good to see all your takes on books. I feel like you guys are honest and don't pull punches which is really refreshing.
ReplyDeleteA lot of smaller press titles really need a hand in being able to find their target audiences, so I want to thank Jim and Gwen again for helping us to do this. On another note, here's a couple links to previews for issue 2 and 3.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.th3rdworld.com/previews/space_doubles/issue02/
http://www.th3rdworld.com/previews/space_doubles/issue03/