Writer: Corinna Bechko
Artist & Colorist: Danny Luckert
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Cover Artists: Danny Luckert, Ariel Olivetti & David Mack
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Price: $4.99
Release Date: November 1, 2023
Revla defies orders and risks her ship to save another pilot’s life. Upbraided by her commanding officer, Revla’s heretical response lands her in solitary confinement. Will she follow orders, write a contrite confession, and get her wings back? Let’s soar into The Space Between #1 and find out!
Story
Revla expected reward, not punishment. Frustrated by her society’s stringent rules, she escapes her room. When others approach, she pulls away a grill and hides inside an air exchange vent. Perhaps the cat who snuck into her room inspired her. Either that or the crawlspace arouses her curiosity. But when she reaches a service ladder and tries to descend, she slips and falls.
Thankfully, Revla bounces off a safety net and splashes into a water vat. Les helps her climb out of the algae growth tanks. He shows her how more of her food is grown. Les also introduces her to his assigned breeding partner. Revla discovers these lower levels operate by different rules than she’s used to. After Les escorts her back to the upper levels, Revla shows him the stars for the first time.
The Space Between #1, science fiction author Corinna Bechko introduces us to life aboard the Dodona. When the generation ship reaches its destination, Revla, Les, and everyone they know will be dead and forgotten. Over time, society has stratified, and their leaders have stressed some rules over others. Revla and Les’ defiance gets everyone’s attention. Their actions prompt others to question the hollow asteroid’s society.
Art
In the cockpit of her winged globe, Revla pursues her fellow pilot. As the ships hurtle toward the Dodona, buildings rise from the asteroid bathed in starlight. Revla tows the other ship aboard and exits her craft. Work crews race across the hanger bay. Clad in safety gear, they avoid the engine flames writhing from the towed vessel.
Facial expressions communicate the characters’ feelings about each other and their world. Characters walk and run through this richly drawn world, where the privileged feast their eyes upon the glowing stars through floor-to-ceiling windows while the less privileged grow food in tanks and columns. Danny Luckert shows us all the hatches, panels, and rivets of Revla and Les’ carefully constructed world. Its cool, muted colors threaten to drain the warmth from its inhabitants. Yet the beauty of the starry abyss they travel through and the flora and fauna they cultivate hint at what gives solace to the Dodona’s inhabitants in The Space Between #1.
Jim Campbell fills panels with easy-to-read black letters in white dialogue balloons. Radio communication inhabits white or yellow balloons with snipped edges. Colorful sound effects help you hear Revla’s tow cable clamp the out-of-control craft and feel her splash into the algae tank. You may need to squint to read Revla’s apology in The Space Between #1, but it’s worth the effort.
Final Thoughts
A peaceful protest sparks societal change aboard a generation ship in The Space Between #1, a comic sure to please fanciers of cats and science fiction.
Rating 9.2/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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