Broken Frontier

Majestic discovers a civilization aboard a space ark and finds himself a stranger in a very strange land.

While searching for the vanished human race, Mr. Majestic has come across a massive and very ancient starship collecting specimens from all across the cosmos. Its original architects and purpose are long forgotten and the ship is the only world the creatures that reside within it have ever known. Awakening from suspended animation over time, the aliens have formed an entire society and religion based on the processes of the vast technological vessel. They cannot comprehend anything existing beyond the world they know. Yet not all the beings within the ark are as ignorant of the outside as they seem….

This ongoing Majestic series seems poised to take full advantage of the character’s potential and the slightly grittier take on the Superman archetype that he represents. Abnett and Lanning are pulling no punches with this book and dazzling the reader with mind-boggling science fiction concepts. The complete disappearance of the human race was an ambitious beginning for the story in and of itself but this issue left me even more pleasantly surprised by its twists. I was fascinated by the idea of an entire autonomous world within a starship and the ignorance of its people towards the truth. The use of quotes from alien scriptures at the beginning of the issue was clever and served to reflect the creatures’ naïve interpretation of the ship’s technology. The story seems to be suggesting that people accept the reality around them but at any moment, someone or something could arrive to shake the very foundations of those beliefs.

Matching the absorbing story at every turn is the art of penciller Neil Googe. His finely detailed yet slightly stylistic work captures the expressions of the characters quite admirably, particularly Majestic’s determination and rage. This is not a guy you want to piss off. I also enjoyed Googe’s bizarre designs for the alien creatures. Largely abstract blocks of flesh with a hint of an Earth animal here or there, the beings in this story have a very distinctive look. The face paint and braided hair on a few individuals contributes to the overall primitive feel of the alien society (at least on the surface). Carrie Strachan’s colors complement the mood of each scene perfectly, ranging from the bleak grays of the ship’s corridors to the sunny paradise of the alien world.

With grand sweeping sci-fi drama and unique art, Majestic is proving to be a welcome surprise from WildStorm.

-Eric Lindberg