Broken Frontier

Have aliens landed in Ed’s backyard to make humans their zombie slaves? Nope…Ed’s Terrestrials are just trying to escape a destiny as intergalactic parking valets.

Written by the creative mind behind The Dreamland Chronicles, Ed’s Terrestrials is a children’s book about a young boy named Ed and his three out-of-this-world friends. Having escaped a life of servitude at the intergalactic food court, Marcello, Gus and Al crash-land in Ed’s tree house while trying to evade mall security. Now, with their human friend’s help, the trio must avoid Maximus Obliterus, as well as Ed’s own rival, the spoiled Natalie. If they can, Ed’s Terrestrials just may be able to help all the poor alien slaves get a chance to live out their dreams.

Ed’s Terrestrials is a children’s book…and it’s important to make the distinction between that, and an all-ages book. Unlike comics such as Andy Runton’s Owly or Marvel’s Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Ed’s Terrestrials is geared directly towards the grade school set. As a thirty-year-old man reading the book, there wasn’t a lot of entertainment value to the book, although there were a couple of well-timed gags in the opening pages. Some of the later jokes – as Ed tries to find careers for each alien refugee – are drawn out for entirely too long. Pacing that may have worked in an animated setting, progresses at a laborious crawl in this static medium. Not being a parent myself, I might not be the best judge of this book, but even trying to put myself in the shoes of a third grader, Ed’s Terrestrials still seems pretty sparse on story. Characters such as the outcast Ed and spoiled rich girl Natalie are drawn from the tried and true pantheon of children’s book characters, and fall into the typical situations.

Jourdan’s art suits the book well, as his dynamic and fluid style seems to have been transposed to the printed page directly from Saturday morning TV. Bright and animated, the lead characters are each distinct, while the supporting cast have an amusingly underground comix type feel to them. At times Jourdan does use the eastern-inspired speed lines for his backgrounds (and usually to good effect), but he also provides as many unique and detailed settings for the fantastical outer space romp.

Ed’s Terrestrials is by no means a "bad comic," but it doesn’t bring anything new to the dance either. Capable art and formulistic storytelling may engage young children, but won’t catch the attention of their parents.