Traveling To Mars #11 Review

 

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 25^th 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.

Traveling To Mars #10 Review

 

Writer: Mark Russell

Artist: Roberto Meli

Colorist: Chiara Di Francia

Letterer: Mattia Gentili

Cover Artists: Roberto Meli; Romina Moranelli; Fernando Proietti; Brent McKee

Publisher: Ablaze

Price: $3.99

Release Date: February 7, 2023

 

Vera's reports of natural gas deposits on Mars bolstered a society teetering on the brink of collapse. The Easy Beef Corporation funded a mission to send a human to Mars. There was only one problem: they couldn't send the resources to keep the astronaut alive indefinitely. So they sent Roy, a man with an imminent expiration date, to stake their claim. Unfortunately for Earth, Vera lied. Somehow, the rover attained sentience and craved communication with others. So, the Easy Beef Corporation will fund the infrastructure for natural gas extraction and an intrasolar delivery system. Human society will still collapse when it consumes its remaining natural resources.

 

Cancer won’t kill Roy. Nor will he live to see the Easy Beef Corporation land on Mars and watch other companies and nations battle over its nonexistent resources. He’ll consume his remaining oxygen today and die. How will Roy spend his last day on Mars? Let's put on our spacesuits, take a giant leap into Traveling To Mars #10, and find out!

 

Story

What would you eat for your last meal? How about steak? Sounds great, right? Thick, juicy, and imitation meat. Still, it tastes great, so who cares?

 

How about afterward? One final moment of entertainment? Roy watches the Kangaroo Kid movie again. Leopold and Albert sit beside Roy. Their optical sensors glow while watching. The robots rock on their wheels at the movie’s climax. So, the man who devoted his life to animals made his robot companions happy one final time, thanks to Hollywood's CGI magicians.

 

Now it's time for one last walk. Roy likens hiking around Mars to tramping through Arizona in a beekeeping outfit, but it's what he came here for, right? Isn't that the grand dream: exploring an alien planet? Yet Roy's thoughts remain tethered to Earth.

 

In earlier issues, we glimpsed Roy's courtship with Candace. We saw them marry and survive the storm that destroyed their town. In Traveling To Mars #10, Mark Russell returns us to Eufaula, Alabama, in the year of our Lord, 2024.

 

Roy and Candace live in a FEMA trailer. Thanks to his job at the pet store, he's filled their trailer with animals. Candace wants to start their family. Roy wants to wait to have children. Hey, aren't animals family? The choices he makes define their relationship. Candace argues that life will try to curtail your potential, but he can't embrace bigger dreams. Ultimately, Roy achieves his career goal, but at too great a cost.

 

Mark Russell forges a link between Roy and Vera in Traveling To Mars #10. Life consigned the rover to the scrap heap, just as it threw Roy's marriage onto the rocks. Both seek meaning and purpose in their lives. Like Roy, Vera cared for others and became a leader. As with Candace, the rover's journey will continue, while Roy's will end.

  

Art

Roberto Meli begins and ends Traveling To Mars #10 with Roy confronting Vera and the other surviving rovers. He divides the remainder of the tale between life on Earth and Roy's final morning in the shuttle. Roy looks charmingly ridiculous in his cowboy hat as he sits at a table and eats his fake steak with one hand. Meli portrays the purposelessness of his mission and life in one glimpse of the town Roy left behind. He also shows us a final sketch from Roy's notebook, as the lone Human on Mars commits his thoughts on the meaning of life to paper.

 

Under the glowing starfield, Roy sleeps in his illuminated shuttle. Sunrise fills the sky with red. Light streams through the shuttle windows. Like Leopold and Albert, Chiara Di Francia paints the shuttle interior in blue and orange. Highlights and shadows convey individuality to wall tiles and interior furnishings. I don't know its origin, as I've not followed this series since its inception, but a child's handprint-turkey drawing on yellow paper sparks the most vibrant color in Roy's present.

 

Mattia Gentili relates Roy's reminiscences with uppercase black letters in white dialogue balloons. The yellow/orange narrative boxes—which match the faded color schemes of life back on Earth—feature small lowercase handprinted font. Gentili fills tan paper strips with tiny lowercase handprinted font in Traveling To Mars #10. The coloring of the tiny lettering seems faded, closer to brown than black. A solitary sound effect announces something unexpected that brings a sense of completeness to Roy's final day.

 

Thanks to Ablaze Publishing and Arancia Studio for providing this copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Bittersweet and satisfying, Traveling To Mars #10 delivers a poignant reminder to live our lives to the fullest, cherish those closest to us, and nourish others' beliefs and values.

 

Rating 9/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Traveling To Mars #9 Review

 

Writer: Mark Russell

Artist: Roberto Meli

Colorist: Chiara Di Francia

Letterer: Mattia Gentili

Cover Artists: Roberto Meli; Michele Benevento; Dario Tallarico; Brent McKee

Publisher: Ablaze

Price: $3.99

Release Date: November 1, 2023

 

In leaving the spaceship, Roy Livingston signed his death warrant. Already terminally ill, he’s got a few days on Mars before his shuttle and suit’s air runs out. Was his flag-planting exercise worth it? Let’s warp into Traveling To Mars #9 and find out!

 

Story

After six months, Roy reached Mars with his companions. Leopold and Albert talked, felt emotions, and enjoyed movies with him. The robots found new friends in the rovers from previous missions. Foremost among them is Perseverance II, which Roy calls Vera. The rover reported the natural gas deposits that excited energy companies back on Earth. Yet when Leopold and Albert introduced it, Vera admitted that it lied.

 

In Traveling To Mars #9, Mark Russell invites us to share Vera’s journey. It’s a story of heartbreak as the rover struggled to understand why its creators fell silent. What did it do wrong? How could it repair the damaged relationship? As it sought answers, it met more of its kind. Abandoned by their creators, Vera welded the scattered rovers into a community. Eventually, Vera conceived a way to become valued once more and get the answers it desperately craved.

 

As in previous issues, Roy’s thoughts return to the past. A hurricane caused him to doubt God's existence. The fragility of life taught him to value it more. He’s tempted to spend his remaining days avoiding Vera, Leopold, Albert, and the other robots. After all, they’ve done him and Humanity wrong. But as a former pet store manager, can he ignore these aging, mechanical beings who look to him for hope?

  

Art

When he met Vera, Roy sensed cruelty and indifference. Roberto Meli details the weathering, surface imperfections, and brokenness of the rovers in Traveling To Mars #9. As Vera rolls across the regolith, testing shale, sending radio signals, repairing its robot brethren, and gazing upon a member of the species that created it, we sense something more. We feel the pain, longing, and determination that earned it the name Perseverance II.

 

Roy likened trekking across Mars to exploring Arizona in a beekeeper suit. Chiara Di Francia brings light to this red planet with the dust Roy and the robots kick into the thin Martian atmosphere. Blue seeps into objects not bathed in the distant sunlight, whether a crater wall, a pile of mechanical debris, or Roy's transparent helmet. Light speeds across pages, following prescribed pathways, forming a circuit-like backdrop as Vera regales Roy. Mauve lines streak panels showing the rover's journey, while yellow circles make radio signals visible. Umber shadows roam orange dunes, darkening each wheel's tracks. A stained component deemed unsalvageable lays in a bluish shade while the robot community seeks its next temporary home in Traveling To Mars #9.

 

Mattia Gentili reveals the characters’ speech with black uppercase words in white dialogue balloons. Vera accompanies her illustrated past with black words in yellow narrative boxes. Roy’s thoughts appear as lowercase words written on scraps of beige journal paper. The latter may strain the eyes more than the robots’ conversations. Yet sound effects enliven Vera's story, and Roy's emboldened words swell as he attempts to come to grips with the robot community's leader.

 

Thanks to Ablaze Publishing and Arancia Studio for providing this copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Do you ever feel unwanted? Traveling To Mars #9 reminds us of the pain of abandonment and how those who work hardest are often deemed inconsequential and needy.

 

Rating 9.2/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Traveling To Mars #8 Review

 

Writer: Mark Russell

Artist: Roberto Meli

Colorist: Chiara Di Francia

Letterer: Mattia Gentili

Cover Artists: Roberto Meli; Mili Montlló; & Emanuele Gizzi; Brent McKee

Publisher: Ablaze

Price: $3.99

Release Date: September 20, 2023

 

Twenty years hence, dwindling resources drive people into the streets. As states invoke martial law to quell riots and corporations battle to control Earth’s remaining resources, can one man succeed where governments failed? Let’s warp into Traveling To Mars #8 and find out!

 

Story

Roy Livingstone is a dying man. Unlucky in love and business, he faces his final days alone. Why not do something for his planet before his cancer kills him? So he boards a ship with two robots and shoots into space. If he can stake claim to Mars’ mineral wealth, perhaps he'll feel like he contributed to a better future and can bask in the glow of reaching another planet. That is until his oxygen runs out.

 

It's been six long months, but Roy’s finally arrived. As he prepares to leave the Erimhon, Roy indulges in a final morning of escapism. Packing up prompts reflections on what drives Human progress. A chat with folks back home grants insight into how we chart our journey through life. As his shuttle descends, Traveling To Mars #8 suggests that knowing you will die soon doesn't rob fear of its power.

 

Perhaps it’s unrealistic to believe we could build a space elevator in the next two decades, let alone set up an interplanetary supply system. Mark Russell dreams big in his satire-laced Traveling To Mars #8, even suggesting we could terraform Mars in a few generations! With corporations in the United States regularly traveling outside Earth's atmosphere and other countries getting into the Space Race, perhaps Russell's vision isn't impossible. Should Humanity realize his vision, let's hope the situation on Earth isn't as dire as he paints it.

 

Art

Roberto Meli delivers action aplenty, with kangaroos punching cowboys, a drone racing toward an oil platform, and Roy's shuttle hurtling through Martian skies. Even smaller moments—like the glances Roy shares with his robots—shine thanks to lifelike portrayals and attention to detail. We see how life has ground Roy down through his expressions and movements. Yet the Martian future he imagines inspires awe.

 

The red planet casts a warm glow into space as Traveling To Mars #8 opens. Stars twinkle as the Erimhon travels through the multi-hued vacuum. The blue-and-white robot Albert plants a flag in the yellow, orange, and red regolith while Roy stands bemused beneath a textured lavender sky. Light sources gleam, and highlights and shadows ground characters and structures. Pages shine thanks to the depth and nuance Chiara Di Francia creates with his vast array of appealing colors.

 

Mattia Gentili reveals the characters’ speech with black uppercase words in white dialogue balloons. Roy’s thoughts appear as lowercase words in colored boxes. The latter may strain the eyes as Mark Russell dishes out an ample serving of narrative-driven drama. Yet balloon and box sizes scale nicely within panels. Like Roy, we're amazed he arrives in one piece, thanks to the colorful and expressive sound effects that convey the shuttle's high-speed descent.

 

Final Thoughts

As Roy reaches his destination, Traveling To Mars illustrates the coming apocalypse and hints there's still time to make our future brighter.

 

Rating 9/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.