Obscure Comic of the Month
takes a detailed look at a little known entry from my personal comic
book collection. Some will be from major publishers, others self
published projects, Original Graphic Novels, issues and Manga. What
they'll all have in common though, is that I've rarely, if ever, seen
anybody talk about them.
Salvagers: Abandoned Cargo
by Bob Salley, George Acevedo, DeSika and Hde – Think Alike
Productions 2016
In the distant future,
the habitable planets are connected through trade of natural and
artificial resources. The import and export business is flourishing
for some systems, while leaving others at the mercy of major trade
corporations.
After the Galactic War
ended, peace blanketed the galaxy; however planets with little
shipping resources turned to piracy or developed small guerilla
military units geared to pillage trade ships. This spawned the
necessity for trade companies to hire private security contractors
for protection.
Even under the security
of peacetime, there is no shortage of violence in outer space; from
looting raiders, Navy destroyers neutralizing a rebel movement to the
simplest space station falling victim to a rogue asteroid.
These destroyed or
abandoned ships and stations are classified as “WRECKS”.
Licensed crews are
commissioned by governments, empires and corporations to remove these
wrecks.
In a hostile galaxy, the
risk and reward is high for these crews.
They are known as... the
SALVAGERS.
I picked up book one of
Salvagers while I was at Toronto Comic Con back in March. It was the
last day, and the comic's writer, Bob Salley, pegged me as somebody
who might be interested. He gave me a heartfelt pitch, selling the
idea that this was a series that really focused on the working men of
a sci-fi universe. No soldiers or scientists or astronauts here. Just
everyday Joes who have jobs to do and bills to pay.
I snagged the last copy, and
he threw in a couple of issues of the next arc with it.
That is to say, I really
wanted to like Salvagers.
It's competent to be sure.
The writing comes together nicely, the plot is framed well enough,
and George Acevedo's art fits well with the story being told, beyond
a few panels feel weirdly off. By and large, there wasn't anything
really wrong with Salvagers, but there wasn't anything for me to
really get excited about either.
Look, I get it. Doing comics
isn't easy, I know that. I'm sure my own stuff has it's fair share of
flat writing and I'm certainly still making my way when it comes to
art. So I know how much love and hard work you have to put into these
things, and how you want what you come out with to be the best it can
be.
But what you also have to
remember is that a lot of small press and self published comics are
done by writers who are just starting out. Fresh talent still
forming. So when you see problems, it's best to point them out now,
while there's time to iron out your bind spots.
See, here's the thing; when
I read independent comics I'm going to be forgiving of a lot of
things. There's going to be jank and cheese in the writing, there's
going to be a little bit of the art that feels off. What makes up for
that though, is getting to see fresh ideas, bold new voices. Subject
matters that might not have a broad appeal but that the writer really
cares about. Stories that might get a little scrubbed clean of
character if it was under a major publisher.
Salavagers though, it
doesn't have any of that. The story follows a crew of four as they
explore a derelict ship, clash with some security bots, and find out
that there is more going on with the derelict than meets the eye.
You've seen this story before, you've seen these characters before.
There's the big alien guy who's stoic and professional. There's his
little funny looking best friend who's quick with a joke but is
always getting into scrapes. There's the purple skinned pilot who's
strictly business but can relax around the main character, and of
course she's smoking hot with a dark and troubled past.
By far the biggest problem
is our main character Bill Roenick. Bill is a rough, rugged
ex-soldier (despite the fact not focussing on soldiers was
supposed to be one of this book's selling points.) He's what I like
to thing of as a 'place-holder' character. He's perfectly fine for
the first draft but should have been replaced by a more interesting
character by the time we got to print.
Here's a little experiment
for all you writers out there. Next time you write dialogue for your
main character, ask yourself if it sounds like the kind of thing John
Mcclain would say. And I'm not talking about flawed, interesting, Die
Hard 1 – 3 John Mcclain here, I'm talking about boring, invincible,
no personality, Die Hard 4 -5 John Mcclain. If the answer is yes, I
suggest you scrap that character immediately.
There are plenty of Bill
Roenicks in the world of comics, I read indie comics to expressly
avoid them.
So Salvagers real, and in
it's defence, only problem is that it isn't bringing anything new to
the table. There's nothing wrong with using archetypes, but you have
to do something interesting with them. Even the comic's main selling
point, working Joes in space, isn't all that original when you
consider Alien did that back in 1979.
Fortunately, Salvagers can
be salvaged (ah-heh). Abandoned Cargo is only it's first book, and
I've seen far worse comics turn themselves around to become classics.
The talent is certainly there for it.
But by it's own merits,
Abandoned Cargo just sort of gets swept away by the dozens of other
sci-fi comics that have covered similar ground over the years. If
you're new to comics, there's probably a lot you'd find to like, but
it's not what I'm looking for when I pick up a self-published comic.
Jack
Harvey 2017. Salvagers is (c) Bob Salley and George Acevedo. Images
used under fair use.
