Some say there’s no greater love in the universe than the love a boy has for his dog. For Kyle, the only kid living amongst 200 grownups on a distant mining colony light-years away from Earth, that saying is a given. Welcome to Kirawan, a planet that Kyle calls, “the worst place you could ever imagine.” Kyle stumbles through his days doing his chores hoping to live up to the steep demands of his father, the head of the planet’s mining operation. Still, it’s not all bad, there’s Q, Kyle’s robotic K-9, basically the greatest pet in the known universe. However, during an upload of resources bound for earth, the alien natives of Kirawan launch a full-scale attack on the human miners. Welcome to the world of Red Dog.

Written by Rob Cohen and Andi Ewington, Red Dog is an entertaining new sci-fi series coming soon from 451 Media. The story has some familiarity to it, but what it does really well is give a cinematic feel to it all. That makes complete sense considering Cohen is part of the team behind the films Fast and the Furious and XXX.

The issue goes into a lot of detail and provides a lot of background to the world of Kirawan. We know why humans went there. Why Kyle is special. And a bit of what this world is like. It’s an immense amount of information for a first issue, one that would probably make dungeon masters proud in the detail. But, that detail is really great as it helps make the world standout from similar story settings and it gives the comic as a whole a lot of personality.

That personality is helped by artist Robert Atkins who adds a sci-fi western element about it all. The world of Kirawan feels like the wild west in so many ways, and that’s partially due to the brown color palette that permeates the comic. I fully expected mechanical horses to show up at some point or a sheriff to step up. That’s not a bad thing at all as it helps flesh out the world and as the story shifts it helps blend the genres the story mixes. We go from a very “western” tale in the beginning to what’s clearly “sci-fi” when things wrap up. Atkins does some amazing work on Q though. The detail on the mechanical dog is impressive and it feels like it’s a patchwork robot that’d work and something someone could put together in real life.

The first issue ends at a cliffhanger that is a bit overused, but what has come before kept me entertained enough to want to see what comes next and find out more about the world. I can make some guesses as to what we’ll see, but so far, it’s pretty entertaining and well worth checking out.

Story: Rob Cohen and Andi Ewington Art: Robert Atkins
Story: 7.6 Art: 7.6 Overall: 7.6 Recommendation: Read

451 Media Group Provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Some say there’s no greater love in the universe than the love a boy has for his dog. For Kyle, the only kid living amongst 200 grownups on a distant mining colony light-years away from Earth, that saying is a given. Welcome to Kirawan, a planet that Kyle calls, “the worst place you could ever imagine.” Kyle stumbles through his days doing his chores hoping to live up to the steep demands of his father, the head of the planet’s mining operation. Still, it’s not all bad, there’s Q, Kyle’s robotic K-9, basically the greatest pet in the known universe. However, during an upload of resources bound for earth, the alien natives of Kirawan launch a full scale attack on the human miners. Welcome to the world of Red Dog.

Written by Rob Cohen and Andi Ewington, Red Dog is an entertaining new sci-fi series coming soon from 451 Media. The story has some familiarity to it, but what it does really well is give a cinematic feel to it all. That makes complete sense considering Cohen is part of the team behind the films Fast and the Furious and XXX.

The issue goes into a lot of detail and provides a lot of background to the world of Kirawan. We know why humans went there. Why Kyle is special. And a bit of what this world is like. It’s an immense amount of information for a first issue, one that would probably make dungeon masters proud in the detail. But, that detail is really great as it helps make the world standout from similar story settings and it gives the comic as a whole a lot of personality.

That personality is helped by artist Robert Atkins who adds a sci-fi western element about it all. The world of Kirawan feels like the wild west in so many ways, and that’s partially due to the brown color palette that permeates the comic. I fully expected mechanical horses to show up at some point or a sheriff to step up. That’s not a bad thing at all as it helps flesh out the world and as the story shifts it helps blend the genres the story mixes. We go from a very “western” tale in the beginning to what’s clearly “sci-fi” when things wrap up. Atkins does some amazing work on Q though. The detail on the mechanical dog is impressive and it feels like it’s a patchwork robot that’d work and something someone could put together in real life.

The first issue ends at a cliffhanger that is a bit overused, but what has come before kept me entertained enough to want to see what comes next and find out more about the world. I can make some guesses as to what we’ll see, but so far, it’s pretty entertaining and well worth checking out when it’s released.

Story: Rob Cohen and Andi Ewington Art: Robert Atkins
Story: 7.6 Art: 7.6 Overall: 7.6 Recommendation: Read

451 Media Group Provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review