Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Eduardo Risso
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
Scenes of third world poverty strewn amidst almost unlimited tech advances. It’s what makes the world of Spaceman 3 so compelling. And so depressingly realistic.
When last we were with our hero Orson he was saving the life of Tara, the child hero of a reality tv show. It’s actually not clear if this world has anything but reality shows. We know there are newspapers but just like today it’s not clear if those papers have any actual effect on the real world or are read by ordinary people. Or the ordinary hordes of very poor people that we see in most of the panels here.
Here’s one scene of the human debris.
It looks like a less populated street scene from Blade Runner by way of Nigeria or some Chinese coastal town. Beautiful artwork by the way. Yet another nice coloring job. The dialogue refers to an odd choice and you wonder if he’s thinking about taking a slightly unethical road (Perhaps ransoming her himself…?) He doesn’t take Tara back to the Jolie/Pitt like Hollywood reality show from where Tara was taken because he makes the very good point that her security there has already been compromised.
Here are those parents. You suspect that one or both of them is in on the kidnapping to boost ratings but you’re not sure.
But you also wonder if Orson is thinking about possibly using her for his own ends, which have something to do with a real trip to Mars and not this really excellent virtual reality drug (that I would love to get my hands on) that transports him there now. Doubtful considering he killed every kidnapper/rat pirate who put her at harm last issue but you never know. So he takes her back to what I’m sure is his filthy mutant ape apartment.
There’s also some nice science fictional technique done with the future language. You can tell you’re serious about writing your science fiction when you come up with a particular style of mutated English for your characters to spout (Doesn’t anybody remember the “Yarbles“?). Some cool future words: “hapt” for happen, “soree” for sorry, “doon” for doing, “didn” for didn’t, “cuntin” for, well, I guess something explicit.
By the end of this issue we learn that Tara has shown up on that future version of the Internet because she mistakenly answered the call of Orson’s virtual prostitute (We all hate when that happens.) We also learn that the local street urchins have discovered her identity as well. So while his somewhat clunky apartment might have been a safe haven in the beginning it doesn’t seem that way by issue’s end. What’s even more ominous: turns out, especially if you read last issue, that while they may not have sent mutants to Mars they have good uses as terrifying muscle on Earth. These guys are big strong and fast and slightly bullet proof.
This is what’s coming Orson’s way:
Definitely a great read. 4.5 out of 5 stars. Orson is killed next issue, right? I guess I’ll find out.
Related links:
Spaceman 1 by Azzarello and Risso
Spaceman 2 by Azzarello and Risso
