The kidnapped adopted daughter of a celebrity reality TV couple falls into the arms of a "spaceman" named Orson - one of a group of men genetically bred to endure a trip to Mars. Great artwork, decent story (what I could make of it--the future-slang everyone speaks in this book makes it a very difficult and often annoying read.) ( )

A cyberpunk'd view of the future of rising seas and rising capitalism and media domination. Orson is a genetically modified human bred for space. But on Earth he's a hulking freak. The space program collapsed and now he is a junker, sifting the waters which have engulfed the old metropolis -- an area now known as the Rise. He dreams of Mars and his brothers. Trouble comes when he rescues a young girl, a starlet on a worldwide reality TV show. The imagery of the drowned city slum and its various inhabitants is great. Everyone speaks in a kind of lingo or patois which is hard to understand at first, but later seems natural. Every character is done well and the comic rollicks along. There's plenty to admire along the way. It is nicely balanced between tragedy, comedy and drama. Good writing, good pictures, what's not to like? Well Orson's Mars waking dreams(?) punctuate the action a bit, almost like a separate comic, but it still mostly works. Excellent. ( )