STELLARLANDS #3
SALVAGE
Colour
44 pages
Wild
North Comics 2026
Writer:
Max Ferrada Artist: Ben Worrell Colourist: Wilson Go Letterer: Katrina Roets Scientific
Consultant: Dr. Alex Pietrow
Also
available as a Trade including issue 1 &2 with concept art and creator
stories.
It is hoped this will remain for the entire run because, to me, this is one of the best adult Sci-Fi comic series around and it’s not even halfway through.
Despite
being an eight-part series, each issue is a complete story on its own with
hints and nods towards other issues. The sentence “To be continued” does not
appear in the last panel of these books.
Stellarlands
is a masterclass in world building and adult storytelling. Set in a universe
where space travel is a necessity and politics are in constant motion as
different worlds and races figure out their allegiances and futures. Wars seem
to be ongoing, with sides changing and amalgamating as a new player enters the
“game”. It is also a place where preternaturals exist. Not quite superheroes,
but useful tools to achieve ends. The most important thing about these “preters"
is that they are human, with human frailties and feelings. These “frailties” are major character traits
in the first two issues, Inheritance & Asylum. Another is time. Which
brings us to issue 3.
The comic
opens on the space station ENOVOLD. It holds three museums' worth of artworks,
as well as housing military and Bio-Engineering labs. After an enemy attack, it
is decided that scuttling the station would be the most affirmative action.
Guess which part of its holdings doesn’t get the highest priority?
The comic
revolves ona paintings that is housed in one of those museums’ collections.
Told over
centuries, the story bounces backwards and forwards in time. From the creation
of the painting, its subject and its particular role and place in time and
space to different people. The painting is not particularly important to
everyones story, but its existence still affects those around it.
The preter
Bryse is the daughter of another powerful preter CARGO JANE and has the ability
to manipulate spatial properties. In other words can put a lot of stuff in a
small package. Think the TARDIS.
Being a
child, she becomes bored and, whilst playing over and over in her mind “who
decides art?”, she makes a discovery and a decision that no one her age should
ever have to make.
But this is
just part of a larger tale. I found myself reading this comic several times and
finding new clues every time.
The Love
of Art & the Art of Love seem to be the themes here, though the
meaning is twisted in context to give a different singular meaning. Both have
manipulative connotations.
This is a
complicated story, and I cannot stress enough that this is not a kiddies comic.
With little to no sex or violence, it is a good read for a mature brain.
While
lacking the action and emotional punch of the first two issues, SALVAGE is a
fine standalone comic that adds to the building blocks that will finish the
story of STELLARLANDS.
