It’s nice when you can go into a comic book with no expectations as to what to expect when you dive in.  Critical Millennium: The Dark Frontier #1 is one of those comics I’m glad I became a blogger for.  I honestly would of overlooked it in the shop (if my shop even carried it), and I would of done myself a disservice.  The first issue is such a fantastic story and the art is beautiful.

Chronicling 1,000 years of mankind’s rise and fall in space! To avert the path all thought unavoidable, a bold group of explorers takes the first steps toward leaving Earth’s solar system. Their quest: new worlds to colonize, so that humanity may yet have yet a chance at survival. Led by philanthropist Thomm Coney, and utilizing an untried star-drive, the team is scorned by the world’s government and canonized by its citizens. And even getting off the ground, they soon realize, may be the most difficult task ahead…

In this first, exciting issue: A ship on the verge of collapse, its captain maddened by the depths of space and the darkness in his heart. A glimpse into the final voyage of the Black Rabbit—humanity’s hope for survival—reveals the lonely fate of Captain Coney as he encounters a strange energy field on the edge of the universe, and the creature within—an ancient being that will stop at nothing short of his soul…

The story starts off as a doomed trip of a space vessel, with a feeling of the movie Event Horizon.  The trip starts off well, but as each page passes it goes more and more awry, until it ends in utter madness.  We’re then thrown back into the past with the build up to the maiden voyage and a dystopian world that’s actually pretty original.  There’s a nice mix of political and social intrigue, straight up action and a very interesting backdrop.

It’s definitely worth a purchase and if you’re a sci-fi fan, you’ll definitely enjoy the first issue.  Definitely worth your hard earned money.

Plot: Written by Andrew E. C. Gaska the plot, dialogue, characters, everything is fantastic.  The issue starts off with a great sci-fi bent and then flashes back to the build up and throws in a socio-political angle.  This is classic sci-fi and done really well.  I can easily see this as a television show or movie, it’s just pure high quality writing.  Rating: 10

Art: The art by Daniel Dussault is beautiful.  I lingered on each page looking at everything going on, but the detail at no point took away from what was going on.  It’s fantastic art, the shading, coloring, everything. Rating: 9.75

Overall: The comic is damn near perfect.  If you’re a sci-fi fan, pick it up you won’t be disappointed.  Archaia has a great comic book here that deserves attention and purchases.  It’s different, refreshing and worth your money.  A rare comic I want to see on the big screen.  Let’s hope the rest of the series is of the same quality as the first issue.  Rating: 10

Recommendation: Buy

Page count: 40 pages    Price: $3.95     Release: 7/8/2010

Archaia provided Graphic Policy with an advance copy of this issue for FREE for review.