Written by Steve Niles
Illustrated by Nat Jones
Published by IDW Publishing
Steve Niles is a creative tour de force.
He can do horror (which he is known for) quite well. This book is a different kind of horror book than we are used to seeing from him. This one takes place in outer space! Good for him for trying to do something in an overlooked genre. I just wish it didn’t feel like a watered down version of the Alien universe.
This book deals with blue collar workers in space just trying to do a job. (They are not dissimilar to the characters in Alien and their purpose, so there’s resemblance number one).
We are with the crew of Tetra 478. They are finishing a job of dropping a trawler on the surface of an asteroid to get some readings.
Then it’s time to head home and forget about work!
On the way home, they find themselves suddenly on a collision course with a big asteroid! They can’t avoid it, so they go inside of it. Inside the asteroid, they decide to do another reading.
And that reading tells them that there happens to be sentient life inside the asteroid (resemblance number two to Alien.)
That’s pretty much the entire first issue. It’s all set up and dread. I also do wish there was a little more meat in this issue but it’s a first issue. This seems more like it should be a graphic novel. That’s where it seems Niles interest lies with this one.
The characters are rather bland and forgettable in this and that’s a shame. I know that Niles can do better.
The art by Jones is done in the sketchy style that another collaborator of Niles uses so well(that would be Ben Templesmith). It adds to that generic, knockoff feeling. Sadly, the issue doesn’t get much better than that. Hopefully the rest of the series picks up and makes for itself a more original identity.
RATING: C+
