A project that brings together one of the most exciting breakout comics writers of recent years with one of the most promising emerging artists was always going to going to capture the attention of readers in the know. Man’s Best from BOOM! Studios brings together Pornsak Pichetshote (Infidel, The Good Asian) and Jesse Lonergan (Hedra, Planet Paradise) in a science fiction story following the unlikely exploits of three support animals on a spaceship.
While the more general underlying premise of Man’s Best is a much explored one – humanity is forced to the stars to find a new home after the Earth is no longer fit for habitation – it’s in the execution that it differs. As the crew of the Starship Horizon are dealing with the mysteries of missing planetary destinations and their own personal traumas, an animal threesome that consists of the feline Athos, the canine Lovey, and fellow bionically boosted canine Porthos have their own mission – to provide much needed emotional support to the humans onboard. But when events conspire against every living being on the Horizon, the pet trio find themselves separated from their human travellers and alone in a hostile, alien environment that is far beyond their understanding…
Serial comics, of course, are impossible to fully evaluate from individual incremental debut chapters but Man’s Best provides everything it needs to in terms of hooking readers for the longer-term. It introduces our three squabbling but likeable protagonists, sets up a number of plot threads about their human companions, and gives us a mystery to follow that immediately captures our attention; particularly in terms of the first issue’s cliffhanger finale.
Pichetshote imbues the animal characters with anthropomorphic qualities without losing sight of their true natures. They can speak to each other but their perception of the world around them comes from a very different interpretive place. Thematically the book looks to explore how we react to events when everything changes fundamentally and our existences are turned upside-down. This aspect, and how the animals’ relationships will be affected by it in issues to come, is by far the more intriguing plot thread in comparison to the story of human stellar relocation that it sits beside.
What can we say about the work of Jesse Lonergan that we haven’t already discussed in reviews at Broken Frontier? Lonergan is already acclaimed as one of the finest visual linguists that comics has produced in years. Here his ever inventive page and panel layouts continually echo the moments of displacement, confusion and motion (both kinetic and subdued) that Pichetshote creates, with his colour palette mirroring the atmospheric beats of the story. Check out, too, the subtle but expressive visual characterisation he imbues each of the three leads with. A final mention to Jeff Powell whose lettering also often playfully reflects the situations the characters find themselves in.
Whether Man’s Best lives up to this promising opener remains to be seen but this is a solid and highly entertaining first part from two of the most eminently followable creators currently working in genre fiction comics.
Pornsak Pichetshote (W), Jesse Lonergan (A/C), Jeff Powell (L) • BOOM! Studios, $3.99
Review by Andy Oliver
