THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2026! Our family watches way too many reality shows, and they all seem to shine the worst light on humanity. Stardate by Eran Aviram and Aviv Or moves the reality show template to a cosmic level, shining the worst (and weirdest) light on the alien dating pool.
Tracy, our protagonist, is shown in a quick succession of terrible dates. From mama’s boys to man buns. Tracy opines, “There isn’t a single man on this entire planet…” before she can even finish her thought, she is whisked off to compete in the interstellar dating show, “Stardate”. Tracy meets (blindly, the contestants can’t see each other at first) five prospective matches: The Togetherness, Fllbrg, Chadmond, an A.I., and a rather unfortunate goat-like alien. No spoilers, but if you’re familiar with similar Earthbound dating reality shows you may be surprised by the outcome of Stardate.
Aviv Or’s elastic, expressive art in Stardate is well-suited to Eran Aviram’s satirical story. Her layouts are varied to keep the story moving along quickly, despite there not being a lot of action to the story. The color is exceptionally good at conveying the cold, impersonal spaceship in the background, peopled by colorful alien beings and their colorful personalities in the foreground.
Or’s lettering also deserves a mention. Aviram’s story is told through quite a bit of dialogue, and the placement of so many word balloons is balanced excellently throughout. The creative partnership of Aviram and Or really put a lot of work into this character-driven story, with sharp dialogue, great facial expressions, and subtle body language.
Aviram and Or make a seamless team on Stardate, both know how to tell a funny, satirical story full of some truly oddball characters.
Eran Aviram (W), Aviv Or (A/L/C) • Up to Four Players
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Review by Gary Usher
Up to Four Players (Eran Aviram and Aviv Or) are at Table B5 in the Redshirt Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2026 runs from November 9th-15th with the convention weekend taking place on the 14th-15th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2026 coverage so far in one place here.
Poster art by Núria Tamarit
