Super Terre.r Graphic Novel Review

Title: Super Terre.r

When a crew of space miners get stranded on a healthy looking planet, they think they’re in luck. The planet is lush and green, resembling the Earth they have only heard of but never seen. The honeymoon with Super Terre comes to an end when a series of mysterious and frightening events begin to reduce their crew count. Can they survive and figure out what plans the planet has for them?

Story:

Super Terre.r starts out calm and slow. It reads like your classic sci-fi fare. The crew of a mining ship is stranded on a strange, earth like planet. Most of the story is told from the perspective of the ship’s psychologist, Dee, who doesn’t seem too know much more than anyone else in the crew. Through a chain of narrated events, she’s able to feed us bits and pieces of information that could potentially solve the mysteries that happen; however, several chains of events make it difficult to calm down and focus on the problems at hand.

The narration starts three weeks after the crew emergency landed and started a settlement. They notice evidence of life on the planet and the looks of things, they were humanoid and progressing at a similar pace as humans. Of course this makes them wonder what happened to the natives of the planet. Despite being stranded, the crew seems content since they have spent their lives in space settlements or work ships. None of them have seen earth, so to discover a planet fit for human life is quite exciting.

Unfortunately the excitement ends when weird things start happening and members of the crew begin to disappear. Its unclear what is happening and the story is written in such a way that the reader can share the same anxiety the characters have when people start disappearing.

We’re treated to some flashbacks that provide hints as to how the ship may have malfunctioned – 10 weeks earlier someone bypassed security measures and sabotaged two of the ship’s batteries,  leaving them with little juice to travel back to a safe zone with lines of communication. Two members of the crew are found assaulting Ramirez, who denies the accusations. He is cleared of wrong doing after a brief investigation by the captain. Davies finds them a habitable planet to land on.  The flashback does little to establish a culprit which is excellent for leaving the reader on edge.  You just don’t know who on the ship you can trust. I’ve always felt that Davies, who runs off on an archeological adventure, wanted them to land on Super Terre. Of course I can’t say that for certain – just my hunch. I wouldn’t say the captain had a hand in any of the terrible events of the story simply because he seems so incapable of basic leadership when his lead would be most important.

We are given several more flashbacks that only raise more questions. Although the flashbacks are welcome, they are frustrating because they simply add more to a story that is already packed with suspense and anxiety.

In the end the only conclusion here is that you’re up a creek without a paddle.

Final Thoughts:

This is another interesting and enjoyable work from Omaha Perez. Fans of classic, no-frills sci-fi adventures will definitely love this graphic novel. It’s not flashy and doesn’t try to be anything except a sci-fi thriller, which it does very well with great ease.

There are a wide range of characters, all of who contribute to the story while engaging the reader. They’re all believable. Dee is the Deanna Troi of this story and I like her quite a lot. We have Davies who is a failed archeologist who becomes obsessed with the abandoned city on Super Terre. His obsession reaches so deep that you wonder if the entire story is a hallucination. Jones is your typical creeper  – what crew isn’t complete without someone making sleazy remarks? With the end seemingly near he has no shame in indulging by coping a feel. Of course he gets punished for it but that’s expected, too. The captain of the ship is rather ineffectual, which does little to benefit the remaining crew.

This new title from Omaha Perez is definitely twisted and will knock you off balance. I don’t think I would be comfortable with him penning something that wasn’t out of this world with a disorienting story to follow. This is like watching one of those horror sci-fi movies that doesn’t give you a happy and comfortable ending.

Additionally, the art work is top-notch. Although the graphic novel has two different illustrators, Tony Talbert (Chapters 2-5) and Greg Hinkle (Chapter 1 and back cover), the art is consistent and works well with the story. Greg Hinkle is an interesting artist with a cartoonish style that could make anything scary or outrageous. Tony Talbert is equally talented with the detailed illustrations throughout the later chapters. The transition between the different illustrators is seamless. I can’t imagine this story with art by anyone else.

If you like good, scary science fiction and excellent art, check this out!

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**This item was provided for review.

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