An enjoyable intro to a planetary-exploration sci-fi romp.
Creative Staff:
Story: Mike Richardson
Art: Fernando Baldo
What They Say:
Third class engineer Steven Paxon, in search of an old love, finds himself on Poseidon, the first habitable planet discovered and inhabited by humanity. But Poseidon is a dangerous place, with strong gravity and lethal wildlife, and the weary Paxon quickly begins to regret his hasty decision to make the trip, old love or not.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The “Dangerous Planet” is a tried and true theme in science fiction. The plots generally range from a small, exploratory cadre of fatally curious lab rats led by a dashing captain that come upon the lone and mysterious planetoid, to the larger scale of what we have here with Deep Gravity: Humanity already having a fairly well established, but small, colony in the midst of a hostile environment.
The strange and dangerous planet in question here is called Poseidon, where gravity is stronger, radiation is stronger, and the local plant-based animal life all apparently want to kill you. It’s a rough place to hang your hat, basically.
But humans, being humans, decide that the six year round trip is worth the wait to cart specimens and minerals back and forth, and for our protagonist and engineer third class Stephen Paxon specifically, it’s a chance to leave his benign life on Earth behind him and reconnect with his old flame Michelle, already working on Poseidon. Things don’t go well of course, this being a man-eating planet and all.
The big attraction of exploratory sci-fi is (in this case,) the planet itself. How do its natural structures work? Its gravity, its animals, its air and sky and plants, the more creative and outlandish, the better. And, of course, the mystery that drives the whole narrative: What’s really happening on this planet? The animals and whatnot are just the surface of things. Some broader idea must be at work behind the scenes. And as attractive as the planet itself can be, you need a compelling cast of flawed and driven humans walking around on it to move things along. Deep Gravity’s playlist of characters isn’t exactly the most dynamic lot I’ve ever read, but each character fulfills their role thus far efficiently, from the wizened elderly captain to the dickish company “Efficiency Officer.”
The accomplished writing is accompanied by some interesting artistic flourishes. Fernando Baldo has a very competent hand and adds some enticing textural work to his models and environments. Everything has a kind of gritty, sandy look to it, which contrasts nicely with the surrounding space imagery.
In Summary:
All told, while the plot, tropes, and cast of characters may not be the most original or unique in the world, Deep Gravity proves that even a well-trodden story can be made enjoyable again by solid writing and handsome art. And overall the issue establishes a strong beginning for what looks like a very promising and readable series, especially for fans of hard, golden age styled science fiction, (like myself.)
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Books
Release Date: July 30th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
