Comic Review: Flee

An intergalactic war rages between two alien races (the Sect and the Krill) in a new comic series titled  Flee. Created by Raph Moran (Dream Reavers), with art by Ed Watson, Marc Borstel, Atul Bakshi, and published by Arcana,  Flee is an entertaining sci-fi romp with some nice comic relief thrown in for good measure.

Lowly Sect member and failed military academy cadet, Flick Fleebus, ends up in the unlikely position of being assigned a secret mission to evacuate his civilization’s most important artifact, the “Nexus Sphere,” to keep it from falling into the clutches of the attacking Krill forces.

Far away from this struggle in space, an bug exterminator named Rigby Pinkerton tries to piece together his miserable life in the aftermath of a bitter divorce. Both Flick and Rigby are unaware that their worlds are about to collide.

Following a wild series of events involving treachery, pursuit by the Krill, and a crash landing on a strange planet, Flick has his work cut out for him. He must locate the lost Nexus Sphere to keep it from falling into enemy hands.  Upon emerging from his wrecked spacecraft a new set of obstacles is revealed—the Sect and Krill are actually tiny compared to the inhabitants of this strange new planet—which just happens to be Earth! This is going to be a wild ride.

Due to some unforeseeable production issues, the artwork in early installments of Flee utilizes a couple of different artists. Each of the artists working on this title has slightly different artistic strengths and styles, but this doesn’t distract from the continuity of the story. Illustrating such things as aliens, space battles, and tiny characters facing deadly challenges in a world inhabited by creatures much larger than they are, offers the artists quite a bit of artistic freedom–and I think readers will enjoy seeing it all on the pages. The aliens end up interacting quite a bit with Earth’s various insects, kind of lending to a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids set piece vibe artistically. The artwork in some of the panels works much better than in others, but looking ahead a little I can see it getting even stronger as the series goes on.

Raph Moran [who, full disclosure: is also a writer at another website I edit and contribute to, but whom I have never met] plots Flee in a manner that pays homage to various beloved sci-fi stories and tropes, while creating a unique new vision that is entirely his own. Flee does a great job of advancing the story almost entirely through the dialogue and sequential illustrations, instead of overusing narration (a common distraction in many sci-fi comic books). Comic relief is provided through some snarky dialogue, most amusingly by Flick’s robot guardian, Trion, and Rigby’s interactions with his embarrassing mother (with whom he is forced to live as a result of the divorce). As two unlikely heroes, look for some parallels to emerge between Flick and Rigby’s characters as their paths start to intertwine. I enjoyed Flee and can see the potential for readers of all ages to as well.

The first chapter of Flee is currently available in select comic shops (or for download on ComiXology for $1). New chapters will be released near the end of every month, with chapter 2 just around corner, so now is the perfect time to get in on this adventure.