Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Roberto Meli
Colorist: Chiara Di Francia
Letterer: Mattia Gentili
Cover Artists: Roberto Meli; Gabriele Bagnoli; Ciro Cangialosi; Brent McKee
Publisher: Ablaze
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 3, 2024
Roy arrived on Mars with his robot companions. While Leopold and Albert's lives will continue, Roy's oxygen is nearly gone. He received his final message from the Easy Beef Corporation and a surprise missive from his ex-wife Candace. What can Roy accomplish in his remaining hours on the Red Planet? Let's put on our spacesuits, take a giant leap into Traveling To Mars #11, and find out!
Story
Traveling To Mars #10 ended so satisfactorily that this issue came as a surprise. Sometimes, a comic series goes on too long. But Roy, Leopold, and Albert make such charming companions that I couldn’t begrudge sharing more time with them.
In Mark Russell’s story, Roy has accomplished his mission. He’s staked his claim to mining rights on behalf of the Easy Beef Corporation. So what if Vera lied about discovering natural gas deposits, and all the machinery and people sent from Earth will accomplish nothing? There’s nothing Roy can do about that.
Like the animals in the pet shop where Roy worked, Albert and Leopold became part of his family. Each abandoned rover in Vera's community has a life to lead. Roy isn't a model spokesperson. Yet he's there. Roy cared for his animals on Earth. He spends his final hours caring for the robots on Mars.
In Traveling to Mars #11, something Roy didn’t do on Earth still plagues him. Ticking that box on Mars comes as a welcome surprise. Maybe Roy was a zero on Earth. Who cares? Since when did you have to be Somebody to give your life meaning or help others?
Like many science fiction readers, I’ve long been fascinated by our Red neighbor. I've read countless stories and novels about Mars. Some are fantasies like Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter Of Mars novels. Others offer thoughtful scientific extrapolation, such as Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. Perhaps it was Russell's flowing prose. It may be his sociological musings. Whatever the reason, as I read Traveling To Mars #11, my thoughts returned to Ray Bradbury’s novel The Martian Chronicles. Like this issue and Roy's accomplishment, discovering a comic that evoked a childhood favorite proved an unexpected but welcome bonus.
Art
As the sun sinks toward the distant hills, Roy sits on a boulder in his spacesuit and strums his guitar. The rover community surrounds a glowing lamp as Roy's loyal robot friends discuss their favorite movie. Roy steps onto a makeshift dais, envisioning great orators from Human history. Roberto Meli shows a shantytown of homes constructed from abandoned equipment in the background. The rovers' sensors gaze up as Roy talks and gestures. After his speech, Roy returns to Vera in Traveling To Mars #11. Then he kneels before a small robot and shakes its hand.
Purple fills a sky dotted with white beneath an orange-red landscape. Blue dominates Roy’s memories of holding Candace. Beneath his visor, his face fades to blue as a convoy of spacecraft travels through panels overlaying his features. Chiara Di Francia splashes the morning sky with yellow, orange, and magenta. Even though the rovers' metal bodies look gray and silver, the glowing, colored lights of their optical sensors grant them individuality.
Mattia Gentili's uppercase black letters fill white dialogue balloons. Smaller, italicized lowercase letters roam colored narrative boxes. The robots' machine-like font evokes signage in Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. No sound effects distract from Roy's flowing memories and musings or the heartfelt conversations in this series-ending issue.
While I wrote this review, my wife glanced at my computer and said, "That looks like Scotty." I hadn't connected Roy with the Enterprise's Chief Engineer. Still, Roy becomes the robot community’s miracle worker in Traveling To Mars #11. Thanks to Ablaze Publishing and Arancia Studio for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
A man passed over in life finds peace, and a slave community embarks on an odyssey in Traveling To Mars #11.
Rating 9.4/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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