Broken Frontier

In a distant future where man has colonized in space, our ambitions have found us a new political arena. One Asimov Dedeken has joined an elite special ops force for the universal federation and will become one of the greatest heroes of any species.

Alright, it is official, Jonathan Hickman makes me mad. This guy has yet to write a comic book that was not spectacular, smart, innovative, or entertaining. He comes with a different concept every time and has shown comedic chops, action chops, superhero chops, and now hard core sci fi chops. Will this guy ever put out a bad book?

Here we find an all out done in one book. What I mean by that is that Hickman uses his dense narrative style to not just build worlds, but an entire universe. This is Tolkien level creative design and it is not guaranteed to continue? That is a writer who is painstakingly stacking the deck for the Pilot Season Program.

On top of the world building on display, Hickman takes an introspective look at humanity. In his meditation we see the best that humans can achieve and be. However, in the end we also see the worst that we can be through our political aspirations, greed, and egotism. We want to be heroic and do the right thing on an individual level, but as a species we are megalomaniacal to the extreme. It is a message that is depressing and heartwarming at the same time. As always, this is heady stuff that will make you think about it long after you have read the final page.

In the end, I think that is why I sing this particular writer’s praises from the highest rooftops. He is not satisfied with merely entertaining us, he wants to enlighten us. Somehow he manages this feat with out preachiness or by taking sides. He simply lays out our nature and lets the reader decide for himself what to take away from it. It is a delicate balance but allows for those who don’t mind the extra work to fervently want more from the man.

The details don’t escape the writer either. This book is full of religious and political dogma and he makes sure to put the kind of propaganda like phrases that would fit the world view. These sayings like, "Failure is forever. So do not." sound cornbally but they would fit right in with an Uncle Sam poster or in one of those military ads from Starship Troopers. He is showing that he knows how to grab the attention and heartstrings of his audience.

Rocafort is of that Gary Frank, Leinil Yu school. The stylized photo realistic look with the kinetic lines. It makes for an energetic panel, where even the most posed action scene seems to not be static at all but begins to resemble the oft used Bullet Time of modern action movies. It is not an easy thing to pull off. Add to that an exquisite graphic narrative ability and innovative panel layout and you got yourself an artist to watch, but readers of Madame Mirage already knew that. Just as with Yu in Silent Dragon and Frank with Action Comics, the style seems to look the most impressive in a technocratic science fiction setting, so the subject matter here is perfect for the art.

Another winner of a book. I may just have to flip a coin to see who gets my vote. Hopefully, Top Cow is listening to the audience and will green light this along with Alibi, Genius, and Urban Myths because all four deserve to be continued and fleshed out. What a great time to be reading comic books, here we have four books that give their all even though they may not get to continue.