Remnant

Remnant
writer - Michael Roslen
artist -  Karly Engracia
colorist - Davi Comodo
letterer - Sean Rinehart

Reading something written by someone you know is some tricky business.  It's a lot like when you were in college and your friend invited you to go listen to his punk band that you were pretty sure sucked.

Michael Roslen is married to my cousin but I admittedly don't know him that well.  Hell, I didn't even know he was into comics until this came out, though I should have suspected when his best man compared him to Batman during the longest best man speech I've ever listened to at their wedding reception.

Anyway, I'm pleased to say I enjoyed this quite a bit.  On one level, it's about humanity trying to make a new life on Mars but on another, it's about having kids and trying to make a better world for them.  I was reminded of Ray Bradbury when I was reading it, although that may have just been because of the Mars setting.

In the age of decompressed comics where every story takes four to six issues to tell, the pace of Remnant was a breath of fresh air.  Three generations experience life on Mars in a single issue.  There's not a lot of dialogue so things move at a pretty quick clip.  The writing sets the stage and lets the art breathe.

This a great looking book.  The color effects aren't over done and Mars looks suitably desolate but still interesting.  I'd like to see more of Karly Engracia's art.  The penultimate page of the story is easily my favorite of the book.

So I guess Thanksgiving won't be any more awkward than usual.  I enjoyed Remnant quite a bit.  Hard to believe this was a first effort.  Four out of five red planets.