Planetoid #3

Tempers flare amongst the tribes, as food & water is in short supply. Silas gives a speech to the tribes as they start to work together to build better lives for themselves and a true sense of society.

The Team

Written, illustrated, coloured, inked & lettered by Ken Garing. Published by Image Comics.

The Pros

With this issue, the Mad Max on Planet X story sort of shifts gears, as it steers away from the brooding lone gunman and becomes a story of different cultures of humans & aliens working together trying to build a society for themselves & a brighter future. If it wasn’t for Silas’ big gun, then the occasional trespassing robot agents of Ono Mao would destroy or capture everyone in the camp. Silas forges alliances and even rivals and gives hope in a hopeless world. The potential for romance between Silas & Onica is there, so I won’t be surprised if their relationship will blossom in future issues. Silas is definitely a good man at heart, but his obsession with repairing the huge ship to flee this worthless rock is clearly obvious and that could make him a dangerous man. 

I did a little research about Ken Garing. He spent years working on Planetoid and eventually showed his work to Image Comics at a Comiccon somewhere and they agreed to publish his work. How cool is that? He has created a rich & wonderful, but dangerous alien world with colourful characters and endless possibilities for further adventures. He does everything in this comic, which is needless to say, very impressive. It’s his baby and you can tell. Some of the illustrations are absolutely stunning, from the trench where lush greens & mushrooms have sprouted all over to the look of the frog people (on the cover) and I love the look of the Ono Mao robot agents that look like Terminators on steroids. There’s a single page drawing of a kite in the air that’s just perfect and damn if that omelette didn’t make me hungry. The final page isn’t a huge cliff hanger in any shape or form, but it adds a little anticipation for the next issue.

The Cons

As impressed as I am by Ken Garing’s vision, I have to admit that the drawings occasionally have rough edges that kind of bothered me through out the issue. But this are just a minor complaint.

The Outcome

After reading the last issue, I was prepared to ditch this series all together, but after reading this latest issue, it opened up a new & interesting chapter and completely hooked me back in. I’m like the Micheal Corleone of Planetoid, “Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in!” If you’re a little late with this series, try to find issue #1 & #2 or like a lot of people, just wait for the trade. To get a general idea about this series and without too many spoilers, check out my reviews for issue #1 & #2 available now.