There was something about the cover of Canopus #1 that caught my eye right from the get go.

We get a lot of review PDFs here at Pixel Related for upcoming comic book releases and there’s never enough time to check them all out. But something about the cover had me wanting to experience what Canopus had to say. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a great sci-fi story (which Canopus #1 does a good job of setting up) or maybe I’m just a sucker for a far from home survival story. Whatever the reason, I’m glad I ended up digging deeper into this story. Marrying the external exploration of space with the internal exploration of one’s own psyche, Canopus #1 does a great job of setting up a comic book series that could end up being a meaty, limited story or one that could stretch into the dozens of issues if desired.

In the opening pages of the issue we meet Helen, a lone astronaut in a crashed ship on a distant moon. She doesn’t remember how she got there but she does remember that the fate of humanity is at stake. We also meet her AI companion, Arthur and this first issue mostly deals with the searching for materials to repair the crashed ship. Along the way, Helen and Arthur stumble across a pit full of toys back from Earth, some which Helen recognizes as her own.

This mysterious personal connection gets a bit of a payoff at the conclusion of this first issue which seems to point toward where the series’ narrative may be heading. The universe is vast and would surely take forever to explore. Just as vast is the human experience. Both can be tricky to plot a path through and both can come with the feelings of being overwhelmed, isolated, and sometimes abandoned.

Overall, Canopus #1 is a strong start to the series. Writer/illustrator Dave Chisholm does a great job at setting up a look and feel for the world. Some pages have so much going on in them that you literally need to zoom in if you’re reading on a digital device. I’m sure readers are going to have to hold the physical copy up close to their face to read all the panels and see all the details. I’m equally sure that this was the intent. It seems like Canopus is shaping up to be the type of story that one must focus in on to grasp its full scope.

SCORE: 8.0 out of 10

A copy of Canopus#1 was provided to Pixel Related for review

TITLE: Canopus #1 (of 4)

WRITER: Dave Chisholm

ILLUSTRATOR: Dave Chisholm

AGE RANGE: General Adult

GENRE: Science Fiction

SRP: $3.99

FORMAT: Comic Book

PAGE COUNT: 32

DM PUB DATE: February 19, 2020

ITEM CODE: DEC191848

PUBLISHER: Scout Comics