Arks Volume 1, Review

If there's a comic genre I love more than any other, it's sci-fi. And Arks, from Rory Collins, is pure sci-fi with an awful lot of mucus. Who knew that the potential future of humanity could be so mucus filled?

After another successful Kickstarter, Arks volume one was offered as a reward alongside issue four. It comes with a beautiful cover and some delightful additions at the end with the Arks Appendix.

Arks is the story of two planetary engineers, Joseph and Lilith. They are Arks, engineers born of bacteria that have been booted onto a terraformed world orbiting a distant star. To their horror, they discover that the process may have accidentally turned the entire planet into a bomb. They also might not be as alone with the wildlife as they think.

Arks volume one has two artists over the three issues contained within. Issue one was written and drawn by writer Rory Collins. Andrew Morris then took over the art and covered issues two and three. The transition is pretty seamless with similar art styles. There is a noticeable shift in one aspect, though. From issue two, there's a combination of traditional hand-drawn looking and digital art, as opposed to all digital looking. From start to finish, it's art that you can obsess over, finding beauty in a situation that's really not pretty.

We see a bit more of the Cradle in issue three, where Joseph and Lilith can create, providing they have the right materials. Joseph won't have a manky arm for much longer as they can produce a new one. The Cradle allows for some incredible imagery with new creations, fire and xenobots. As we learn more about what they are up against, we have to combat getting lost in the art, as there's so much to look at. Even the animals, born out of Earth bacteria, have evolved to their new world, creating some monstrous creations that aren't too far from the animals we know. I lost count of the number of times I said "nice" whilst looking at a page, captivated by the beauty of so much grossness.

As for the story, what Rory has created is something quite unique and original, leaning heavily on science to achieve this. We've seen sci-fi where people terraform planets before, where humanity wants to spread itself on a new planet. Telling that story in an original way where this feels like a completely new idea is something special.

The first two issues give us our setup for what is going on. Using Joseph's head injury lead to Lilith questioning him on things is a stroke of genius. It lets the readers know what's going on and why all are framed under Joseph's impaired memory. Can he remember who they were before? What did they do? Why are they here? What do they need to do? A lovely setup before we get into the pair starting to get on with their jobs in issue three, where we learn a bit more about what they need to do and some potentially lethal problems, like how the planet might be one massive bomb.

Arks volume one brings us to the halfway point in the story, and we couldn't be more heavily invested in where this is going. With a mixture of superb art that blows your mind almost as much as the science concepts the story touches on. That there's so much more still to come fills me with excitement about where the story will go, what Joseph and Lilith will uncover or cause to happen, and even whether things will work out. Will we get all the answers? Who knows, but I also wouldn't be disappointed if we don't, as its the kind of story that should raise questions. The addition of the appendix is a lovely added bonus to end the volume, which I hope continues with volume two when that's out.

Rating: 5/5

Rory Collins (w), Rory Collins & Andrew Morris (a) - clickysproutwife.com