Cosmic Debris #1, Review
Cosmic Debris is the latest comic series from Stu Perrins and Markosia. As fans of sci-fi and Perrin's work, this is one we have been looking forward to. Chrono-Cat was great fun, which we highly recommend. It's a different team this time, though, as joining Stu Perrins on Cosmic Debris are artist John E Murphy and letterer Robin Jones.
Set in the age of shadows, the universe is filled with giant robots, squid-like aliens, mermaid warriors and frustrated Gods. While desperation and poverty inspire most of its inhabitants to keep a low profile and their heads down, the same can't be said for Randall Crux and his cyber buddy Cleaves. Whilst some may love them, some hate them. But when it comes to bounty hunting no one can argue with the results. And bounty hunting is a results business.
John E Murphy is on art duty. Murphy knows how to create depth and a sense of height. There are some quite tricky perspectives of characters that don't always look quite right, but when it works, it can look incredible. It's a bit of a mixed bag, though. There are some really great-looking panels with different perspectives than you'd usually see - the penultimate panel being a brilliant example. The character design for Shrek Orlock (the big guy on the cover) could become a classic, as his look screams that he's evil.
Letterer Rob Jones does a tidy job with text that's easy on the eye. The placement of word balloons and text boxes is vital, and none of it takes away from the art.
As for the writing, Stu Perrins gives himself a lot of work, creating a fair amount of lore, and setting up the rest of the series. There's enough that this could spin multiple series. It's not so much world-building as it is universe-building. Perrins excels when it comes to dialogue as conversations feel natural. Throughout this issue, we are introduced to possibly the entire cast which doesn't leave much room to flesh out the main cast. It's the first issue, though, so that's not much of a concern right now.
For an opening issue, it's a decent start. There's a lot to like and so many places it can go that you can't help but want to read more. There is some surprising gore mixed in that I didn't expect and plenty of intrigues. I think it'll work a lot better alongside future issues than on its own, so I'm looking forward to what comes next. It's a fun and exciting story with bags of potential. It's sci-fi and bounty hunters. It's hard to go wrong. Bring on Cosmic Debris issue two!
Rating: 4/5
Stu Perrins (w), John E Murphy (a) Rob Jones (l) - Markosia - £1.91 Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
