Comics Review: "Cluster" #1

- by Señor Editor, featuring Ninja Ross, 6 February 2015

"Cluster" is Ed Brisson's and Damian Couceiro's interesting new series from BOOM! Studios. How interesting is it, really? To determine this, I decided to discuss the matter with fellow Trash Mutant and expert in interesting, Ninja Ross. Who hasn't read it and didn't really realize this conversation will be published.

"Cluster" #1 cover. Click to enlarge.

SE: Let me set the stage for you here. In the world of "Cluster", the law enforcement is pretty strict. If you commit a crime, you can either go to prison for life, or you can spend 15 years on another planet, helping the humans colonize it by killing aliens called Pagurani. Our hero is Samara. She was driving under the influence, and her co-passenger (who we don't see) died. Not very surprisingly, she didn't choose going to prison for life as her punishment.

NR: That's a good premise. And a sweet cover, too. The cover reminds me of something and I can't think of what it is. It's oddly bright. In a good way.

SE: Yeah, it looks bright, but also pretty rough and rugged. It kind of reminds me of some 2000AD stuff or "Warheads"... It's by James Stokoe, but the interior art is by Damian Couceiro. It also looks very nice. 

Right, so Samara goes to Midlothian (that's the name of the planet) and the place is pretty terrible. We find out Sam is the daughter of some politician guy, who could easily bail her out from the whole thing, but she's all "shut up, I'm a loner, I don't want to make friends" and that kind of thing.

NR: I was thinking it had a bit of a European tone. What's the interior stuff like?

SE: There are also aliens and punk ladies in the prison:

Wouldn't be much of a prison without prison fights.

NR: So, she's doing a self-punishment thing?

SE: Well, not really self-punishment, since it's too late for the "self" part, since she got nabbed by the police like minutes after the crash. But yeah, she's doing some atonement kind of thing! I kind of suspect the co-passenger was her child or something like that. Here's how the other inmates/soldiers look. When they are not training or fighting aliens, they go back to their cells and all. These moments are like a prison movie. We meet the smaller girl from the scene below at the beginning, right after they land on the planet after getting out from cryo-sleep. She pukes on the floor then, and later tries to befriend Sam. With no luck, but Samara saves her from the other inmates anyway.

Oh, here is Samara, by the way, with Major Backstory-Giver: (Not his actual name)

Samara isn't exactly making friends.

NR: That SHOULD be his name. So, the small girl is obviously going to become her friend and they're both going to learn lessons, right? There are predictable elements to the story.

SE: Maaaybe lessons are on the way, but so far they haven't started! At least not that kind of lessons. There will be danger, though! Because Samara, the small girl, the alien hemorrhoid and the ripped prisoner are all going to battle the next day! Led by Halleran, who is also a prisoner, but he's kind of the squad leader and drill sergeant for the others. He tells them an important thing when he briefs them: he says that they all have some device implanted in their bodies, that will liquify their insides, should they try to escape, or stay away from the prison for over 24 hours.

NR: That sounds inconvenient!

SE: Very much so, because their ship gets shot from the sky during the mission, and they have to walk back a long distance, while the Pugarani are still out there, and the bombs are ticking. That, I guess, will be the main part of the story. Getting back from behind enemy lines, before somebody kills them or their insides slowly melt (they say it's very slow and painful). 
And that's pretty much issue #1.

NR: It sounds good! That's a lot to cram into one issue, though; is it paced well enough?

SE: It's paced just right, actually. A lot of stuff happens in these 21 pages, but it gets you hooked early on, and the story moves along nicely. The writer, Brisson, introduces all the backstory smoothly, we learn bits and pieces from the characters' dialogues, as the prison/war story moves forward. The art looks good, too, right? I like it when space looks dirty and lived-in in science-fiction, not all this clean, white place, with everybody wearing matching clothes and all.

NR: I think clean sci fi has its place, to be fair.

SE: Sure, but I think clean sci fi (that is the official term) is the more popular type! Lately, at least. Anyway, I think this looks really good!

NR: Is it? I hadn't really noticed anything, to be honest. But yeah, dirty horrible sci fi is the way to go, man. The art has that.

SE: Yeah. The art is good, the designs are nice, and the story has some good things going for it. So, are you sold on this?

NR: I'm sold on it, sure. But why is this different from other sci fi books out there? It's similar to Guardians of the Galaxy!!!

SE: It doesn't feel or read like Guardians of the Galaxy at all.

NR: Tell me how so!

SE: It's much more like "Starship Troopers" meets "Dirty Dozen", meets "Aliens"-style military. With a bit of "Escape from Alcatraz" peppered in. There isn't much humor at all (if any, so far), the tone is much different. There are no heroics here, just badass war. 

NR: Ok, yeah, I'm sold as fuck on it.

SE: Great!


So, it actually IS very interesting! Have you bought it? Are you planning to? Please let us know in the comments! Please!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Loading

---

Follow @TrashMutant