Comics Review: "Descender" #1

- by Ninja Ross, 11 March 2015

Space! The final frontier where nobody can hear you scream! For a vast, empty place it sure does have a lot going on. Xenomorphs here, Blobs there.... It’s a mess, basically. And adding to that is Descender, the new comic book from Image written by Jeff Lemire, with art by Dustin Nguyen. 

Isn't that the Ex-Machina robot? Or the Bjork "All is Full of Love" robot? Anyway, it's good! Click to enlarge!

This particular space tale is set in a universe where androids are illegal and bounty hunters make their money by destroying every robot they find. Yup, this sounds exactly like “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”

But, the legal status of androids is only scratching the surface. While the premise does kind of sound like Phillip K. Dick’s masterpiece, it’s still very different.

There is a very good reason for androids being illegal; at the start of the book, we’re introduced to the planets of the UGC (United Galactic Council) as they’re invaded by planet-sized killer robots known as Harvesters. Our hero, Jin Quon, tries and fails to stop the attacks, which leads to a cull of all androids, with bounty hunters taking out any survivors.

Ten years later, we’re introduced to Tim, a young boy/android living on a mining colony/mass grave. After sleeping for ten years, Tim awakes to find the mining colony full of skeletons after the atmosphere has been corrupted by a gas leak.

Harvester! Ready to harvest.

Quon, on the other hand, is now wallowing in self loathing. At least until he’s approached by Captain Telsa, looking for his help in determining the origins of the Harvesters and how to stop them.

The book is actually pretty different from “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” but it’s pretty clear that Lemire has been inspired by it, as well as plenty of other sci fi classics. Jeff Lemire has created a world that manages to feel both familiar and new, in the sense that it draws a lot of inspiration from the classics, but still retains a sense of uniqueness.

It’s full of little bits and pieces that give us hints to what’s happening in the rest of this universe, but it never lingers on them. It gives out just enough to make the universe feel fleshed out without sacrificing any unnecessary time trying to fill us in.

Quon & Tim

It’s extremely well paced for a first issue. While it does suffer from the awkward explanatory dialogue that plagues most first issues, it’s very rare. Lemire lets things unfold naturally.

While we’re not really given enough time to get to know Quon, Tim seems much easier to understand; he’s just a small boy left alone with the people he cares about either dead or missing. Not only that, but he has missed ten years. And it was clearly a pretty exciting decade!

But Lemire’s script is only one half of this book! Nguyen provides some excellent art work here. Each panel is a gorgeously painted masterpiece full of creativity. The Harvesters look suitably frightening and grumpy, while the good guys are full of emotion. Not many artists could bring Lemire’s script to life in the same way Nguyen has.

If you missed this first issue, you’re missing out on the start of something that could be one of the most interesting sci fi books in a long time. 


What were YOUR thoughts on this issue? Let us know, you pieces of junk!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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