He didn’t get onto the most lucrative interstellar mission for the money—Paxon wants to be reunited with the woman he loves. But his high-stakes journey takes him to a savage world full of the galaxy’s most dangerous game, where the gravity can turn your bones to powder.
I’m much more of a sci-fi person than a fantasy person, so getting my hands on the start of a new series, I’m always a bit excited to see what it brings to the table. Deep Gravity #1 by Mike Richardson, Gabriel Hardman, Corinna Bechko, with art by Fernando Baldó, is familiar, but there’s just enough that’s new and different to get me to want to come back for more.
The familiar part is an alien world that a company has gotten rights to mine/explore/grab resources from/etc. That’s been done many times before, and many times well. Here are the tiny details. As the title hints at, the gravity on this world is different, much greater than that of Earth. Add in radiation, and the amount of time someone can stay on the planet is limited. With a new crew coming on planet, and old crew leaving, you can see where its all going. Add in the relationship angle and there’s a lot that we’ve seen before in other stories. But, again, its the small details that matter here, and those are entertaining and new.
But how its put together is interesting. Much of the writing reminds me of Hardman and Bechko’s previous work, like their Planet of the Apes run. They have a certain style to what they bring to the page. That’s not good or bad, but if you’ve enjoyed their previous work, there’s familiarity here that’ll get you to probably enjoy this new series as well. The two plus Richardson, have dreamed up an interesting world that we learn about as the main character Paxon does. That leads to some exciting moments that catch him and us off guard. Going forward, that discovery will likely be the strength of the series.
Artist Fernando Baldó brings us a solid style. It’s not too flashy or fancy, and definitely doesn’t jump out to me, but it’s solid work with some nice design for the alien world and space ship. It gets the job done and there’s some nice touches.
Overall, while the first issue might seem familiar, and “been there,” there’s a lot new and some great potential going forward. I’m pretty sure I know what to expect next, but even so, if the rest is as entertaining as this first issue, we’ll have a solid sci-fi read to finish off the summer and take us into the fall.
Story: Mike Richardson, Gabriel Hardman, Corinna Bechko Art: Fernando Baldó
Story: 8 Art: 7.75 Overall: 8 Recommendation: Buy
Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
