Orbiter

The best thing about Orbiter is Warren Ellis' impassioned forward. I have doubts about the space program, myself. I believe in pure science and exploration, but I can't help but wonder what we might be able to do with that money on the earth's surface, when so many people are so impoverished. Still, Ellis' arguments catch my imagination, and I hope we can afford both.

The story itself... well, it's a lesser work. Hard-SF speculation about gravity drives and relativity isn't my cup of tea, though Doran and Stewart do an admirable job of infusing the talky story with inspiration and momentum. I feel like the living-spaceship concept has been done too many times for the extended treatment of it here. There wasn't much of a plot or a show more resolution. As always, Ellis gives us some lovely moments and some great lines, but it didn't add up this time. Stunning cover. show less

This started off very promising, but then abruptly ended. I get what he was trying to do and it looks like it worked for some people, but it was just way too short and not enough questions were answered for me. Maybe that was the idea, to leave us curious and not answer the big questions. Unfortunately now I have to build my own space shuttle and contact alien life just so I can find out what it's really like out there. It could take a while but I'll make sure to post my findings to facebook.

Also there was a super fast little romance that I really didn't even know existed and then suddenly culminated at the end in a way that I thought detracted from the "shocking" ending.

A moving examination of the consequences of astronautical tragedy and the powerful call of outer space. I am not convinced that extreme transuranic elements will look so organic but I enjoyed the vision of this profound graphic novel.

No one expected the space shuttle Venture to return. But ten years after it suddenly disappeared it lands at Kennedy Space Center with only its captain aboard and Martian sand stuck in its landing gear. The captain is apparently insane; the ship’s metal skin is now covered with living skin, and something very strange has happened to its engines.

Not what I expected at all, but this was a great read! The characters were nicely done & the art was great too!

Read by Anjie, Summer 2006:
" I know nothing about graphic novels. I ended up going to Willard totally in the dark. Did you know that most GNs read from back to front and right to left?!? I thought I had been out in the sun too long! I picked Orbiter, by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran because of the front cover, and because it read the ol'fashion way. The intended audience is much younger than I; late middle school - high school. The story is about NASA's demise after the space shuttle Venture disappears. Ten years pass when the shuttle plummets to the ground with only one survivor who is mentally unstable - crazy. A team of misfits discover that Venture had landed on Mars by electromagnetic levitation. The surviving crew member admits show more to other life form on Mars and takes the misfit team on another adventure in space. My inexperience in reading novels like this made me stumble on my words. I think my eye wanted to look instead of read. However, teens are awesome multitaskers; I think this is why they love em'." show less

Interesting story, though melodramatic and choppy at times. OK art.