This is a comic I’ve been waiting for. I love the cyber punk genre, and I’m a little surprised that the medium of comics hasn’t taken to this exquisitely visual heavy genre, even the prose heavy literature of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson have an emphasis on the visual nature of cyber punk, and I think Wasted Space fits right into this genre judging by the first issue.

The Set-Up:

The first issue of any comic is always half satisfying and half a letdown, and #1 of Wasted Space is no different. Why? Well, it’s satisfying because the world is an interesting one and the cast is introduced, and in this first issue–you get a real feal for the protagonists. But it’s tempered with that letdown, as well, because only enough happens to get readers to the point of the *what is going to happen next* stage, and then the issue is over. But will I be acquiring #2? Yes. Certainly.

Plot:

Holding with the cyber punk genre, Wasted Space features a world–or rather, a galaxy gone to shit. Cyber punk always boarders or is dystopic; think megacorporations, rogue agents, autocratic rulers, and profiteering religious leaders. Wasted Space may not have all these, but it certainly has enough to land in firmly in the genre. Then there are the body enhancements multiple characters have and the fact that the main characters side-kick is a cyborg of sorts. Okay, I know this is still more about the world than the plot–the plot starts off with Billy Bane floating around in space on a cord attached to his spaceship. He’s philosophizing about the creator. God. Yahway. Whatever. Billy was once The Voice of The Creator, and he hints at how his whole life got shit on because of his status in the church or religious organization. Then he gets his robot friend to take him down planet side to a festival to score some kind of drugs. I think it would be a misrepresentation of nihilists to call Billy a nihilist. Nihilists are typically more optimistic in their actions, if not their thoughts.

Art:

The art in this piece is pretty strange. It’s definately not the most beautiful comic you’ll ever read. But neither is it suppose to be. Jarring at first, the hard and thick lines used to make up peoples’ features, start to take on new meaning once you see how despressing the galaxy really is. Only in a few panels do any characters have actual eyes. More common are just black dots or mostly dark horizontal slashes. The difficulty, and the surprising part about this, is that it is still very clear which lines are eyes compared to eyebrows. There are also just a ton, and I mean a TON of straight lines. Hardly anything is curved in this, other than hair, making the whole piece feel jagged and rugged–which is the point.

Conclusion:

I think this first issue checks all the boxes a #1 comic should. It intrigues, it endears, and it entrtains. Excited for the next, which I’ll pick up as soon as I can.