Space Corps

Space Corps #1

Comics Experience Publishing 2021

Written by Gannon Beck & Bryan Richmond

Illustrated by Gannon Beck

When an alien species attacks Earth, high schooler Deven Taylor is swept up in the machinery of an intergalactic war and finds himself serving alongside strange recruits from across the galaxy! As the Space Corps’ newest enlistee, Deven must come to terms with who he is and the price he’s willing to pay for survival.

Alright, I'm intrigued here. While this is a tad disjointed in some aspects it all comes together and we get a pretty comprehensive introduction to the series. There is something to be said for throwing us straight into the deep end without explanation. We do get some flashback moments but these solely relate to one particular character and it does help explain some of what is going on. What all this does though is engage the reader so that our mind goes off page and tries to put everything into a working theory of what’s transpired. I love this because any time you can engage the reader this way means you’ve written a strong story. It is also great that this expands what we think of the known universe and that whole we are not alone in the vastness of space theory. Though It does seem more likely that aliens would come to conquer as we are not as technologically advanced and make for easier prey to a surprise attack.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in establishing their personalities. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages introducing the characters, the story and the world they live in the more we want to see.

I’m liking the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. Because this is a double-sized issue we get a lot of story and a lot of work that goes into it. I also like how the layers open up new avenues to be explored as this adds some nice depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are extremely well handled.

I’m actually really impressed with the interiors here. The linework is sensational and along with the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work that we see are extremely well rendered. That we get backgrounds as we do and how they enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination that we see in the new species we meet are phenomenally well rendered.

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So with a double-sized introductory issue we see the events that lead up to the reader meeting and learning about the Space Corps. Deven is changed forever by the events in this issue and he’s hellbent on joining the Space Corps to prevent this from happening on other planets as well. With some interesting writing and strong characterisation which is wrapped up in these superbly solid interiors continue to show why the Comics Experience is one that everyone should be having.