Storm Dogs #1

[northstarfan]

Title: Storm Dogs (#1 of 6)
Creators: David Hine (story) and Doug Braithwaite (art)
Posting: About 7 pages worth of panels from a 22 page story, plus back-up material from issue #1 & 2.
Availability: The first five issues are available now. Issue #1 is free on Comixology.


Storm Dogs is, in pitch terms, "CSI meets Firefly at the Mos Eisely cantina" -- our main characters have been sent out to investigate a series of suspicious deaths on Amaranth, a mining planet on the periphery of Union space in a delicate diplomatic position due to the planet's native inhabitants.







The tearful good-byes go better for some than for others. The newly tech-bereft crew disembarks and is met by the local law enforcement.






Storms on Amaranth are a big damn deal, as the rain is highly corrosive. Anyone who gets stuck outside of shelter without a rain suit dies a very painful death. Or, rather, any offworld life does.



Word reaches the Sheriff that a mining transport has been caught in the storm and is under attack by several native animal species working together. Starck wants to wait until the storm passes, but Commander Burroughs insists on taking a team out to investigate. Starck, not having expected that much grit out of a Union commander, heads out into the storm with her team.

Back at the attack site, the transport has been breached. Only one miner manages to slip out during the attack and watches the fate of the transport from hiding.



Commander Burroughs team arrives too late; what's left of the miners literally has to be retrieved with a bucket and shovel.

As they investigate the scene, the lone survivor of the attack turns up again...



...briefly, before he collapses.



Before anyone can begin to look for answers, however, Starck informs them that they're not alone.



The Elohi have come to see what's happening on their soil, and there the issue closes.

I've been a fan of David Hine's work ever since a writer whose taste I trust pushed "Strange Embrace" into my hands at a con, so hearing that he had a new science-fiction book coming out from Image caught my attention and I am quite glad I picked it up. The art is gorgeous, the world building and mystery are both keeping my interest, and I'm eager to know more about the characters.

Additionally, one of the things that held my interest when reading about this project was that the creators wound up with a diverse cast of characters that don't ultimately wound up being lead by a straight, white dude. It's something the creative team obviously put some thought into, and yet not something they've gone out of their way to draw attention to in the interviews. It's just refreshing to see something like that in a genre where "The Future Defaults To White" is a staple trope.

There's also a nice chunk of creator commentary, sketches, scripts and some pretty detailed write-ups included as back-up material with each issue. I especially appreciate the write-ups, since there's only so much space to get to know characters in what is, essentially, a space-procedural.



That said, issue #2 does take the time to put some spotlight on Jered, the investigating doctor, and gets him tangled up with a mysterious newcomer...

Comments

[icon_uk]

OKay, this looks to be a good title to check out, always a fan of the procedural story, and the art is gorgeous.

[northstarfan]

I'd actually recommend buying them digitally if you go in for that kind of thing. Even aside from the earlier issues being almost half cover price at Comixology, the colors look a lot more vivid than on the printed page.

[icon_uk]

I'm old fashioned, so no, digital has never really appealled to me, basically because I've seen far more hard disks crash unexpectedly than I've seen longboxes of comics spontaneously combust.

[junipepper]

Sure, but it's easy to keep back-up copies, which have the advantage of being indistinguishable from the originals. And they're much safer from floods, tornadoes, etc., which in the last few years has become a really big concern for many of us.

(I'm a pretty recent convert to digital, and I think I'm actually (even) older than you. ;-) I say, it's good to keep an open mind on this.)

[northstarfan]

The nice thing about a site like Comixology is that if your computer catches fire, you can just re-download your comics. The big stumbling block for me re: digital is that whole business of it basically being a rental rather than actual ownership, but since Comixology has been swearing up, down, and sideways that if they go under, customers will have a chance to download the files and create back-ups, I pick up something from them occasionally.

[northstarfan]

Also, they've got a really robust freebie selection, so if you want to experiment with it, you don't have to spend any money to do so.

[pallas_athena]

I met Hine at an event once and he was really nice. Glad to see his work doing well.

[northstarfan]

I wouldn't say it's doing well, sadly -- the last three issues haven't even made an appearance on the monthly sales charts. Which is a shame, because it's really a very good comic.

And I agree, he is a pleasure to talk to.

[cainofdreaming]

I wonder if naming the aliens after god is of any significance.

[northstarfan]

Without going into spoiler territory, there's a closing scene in #5 that plays off of that, so I'm guessing yes.

[wizardru]

And with that, Five issues were purchased on Comixology, just like that. Honestly, if not for scans daily, I might not purchase comics at all, sometimes. I only wish SD didn't keep making me fall in love with things that are apparently doomed to commercial failure. :(

[northstarfan]

Ah, the magic words to brighten a fangirl's day. ;)

Hine has said that there's going to be at least one more "season" of Storm Dogs after issue #6, since he's got more story to tell. After that, it all depends on sales.

[bariman]

Oooh, that looks pretty cool. *runs off to jot down ideas for his attempted tabletop RPG group*