Review: Wasted Space #01 and #02

Wasted Space - Issues #1 and #2

 Writer: Michael Moreci
Artist/Cover: Hayden Sherman
Colors: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Alternate Cover: Marguerite Sauvage

 Review by Steve J. Ray

 I frequently get frustrated with comics fans who will only read Superhero titles published by DC or Marvel... 
Independent comics ROCK!

 I don't want to imagine a world without them... think about it: We wouldn't have amazing characters like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spawn, or The Rat Queens. We wouldn't have comics like The Walking Dead, Saga or The Wicked And The Divine.

 We wouldn't have absolute gems like Wasted Space... and the world would be a poorer place indeed.

Writer Michael Moreci is known for writing some terrific comic-books, including stories featuring some of the biggest characters in DC Comics (he's writing the next issue of Detective Comics, has written Nightwing and Wonder Woman too). What some comics fans may not know is that he's also a successful novelist. (I can't wait for his second Black Star Renegades Novel).

 This gentleman can write!

 Wasted Space tells the story of Billy Bane and his sidekick/companion/partner/robot Dust. Billy's story is... complicated, and Dust is the most unconventional android partner ever.

 Seriously, I can't wait to learn more about the blue dude!

 Along their journey we learn about a Galactic Leader, Religious cultists and their wayward children, and  meet robot warrior zealots with violent agendas. There are tributes to Star Wars, tips of the hat to vintage hard sci-fi tales and even homages to classic "Mature Reader" comics titles that I, and Mr. Moreci, are clearly fans of.
Unlike other tales that pay tribute to the classics, this one delivers originality, grit and one of the most unexpected versions of "God" that I've ever seen. This isn't fan fiction given voice. Wasted Space is a true original that also respects what has gone before.

 Anyone who's never read sci-fi will get a great, brand new reading experience. Anyone raised on it will appreciate many of Michael Moreci's influences, but still be blown away by the way he turns convention on its head and delivers something fresh and unique.
Speaking of fresh and unique, let's talk about the stellar art of Hayden Sherman and colorist Jason Wordie.

 I cannot remember ever seeing anything like it. I guess the closest comparison would be with 90's Bill Sienkiewicz around the time of Elektra Assassin, Klaus Janson's Batman: Gothic, or Frank Miller's Ronin.

It's scratchy, atmospheric and totally not what one would expect in a sci-fi comic. Personally, I love that. I see it like I did the transition between the antiseptic straight lines, and clinical sc-fi whites of all films from that genre right up to 2001: A Space Odyssey, when compared to the lived in, real and grimy worlds of Star Wars, and Blade Runner.
For an example of what I'm talking about, compare the stunning alternate cover for issue #2 by Hayden Sherman, just above this text, next to the (still gorgeous, but completely different) art of Marguerite Sauvage at the top of this review.

 The color palette used by Jason Wordie in these books is also totally unique. His warm browns, oranges and yellows are far more reminiscent of a western, than of science fiction, especially in issue #2.

Conclusion

I'm invested. I don't usually form an opinion of a series until I'm at least half a dozen issues in, but this series has me hooked. The villain and his agenda, the hero (who is often anything but) the robot companion and the evangelist's daughter are all intriguing and brilliantly imagined.

 If you're in the mood to escape the mundane and humdrum of the real world, and want to be intoxicated by tales from a galaxy not even remotely close to this one, pick up issue #1 of Wasted Space now,  and the second instalment, which is out this week on New Comic-Book Day.

 Down them in one sitting... and get Wasted.
Images Courtesy Of The Author, Artists and Vault Comics.

 Look out for an exclusive interview with author Michael Moreci very soon!

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