Review: Cosmos





A lone figure wanders through space in the Advent universe. He is the Outcast, the only survivor from another universe which was destroyed by mysterious dark forces... forces which continue to destroy many other realms in the grand multiverse of which our reality is only one part.

In an outpost at the end of time a man called Neo and his two robot assistants witness the death of their universe (protected by "a pocket of chronosyncronous reality") and jump into their time sled on a mission to reverse the apocalypse by travelling back in time to the source of the disturbance: Earth in the 21st century...

An alien spacecraft attacks Moonbase Alpha, a pre-emptive strike in the mission to destroy all life on Earth. This is the flagship of the Regime Empire from the Andromeda galaxy, which has come to Earth seeking a powerful relic that will grant supreme power to whoever claims it. Commander Wildfire flees the dying base in her shuttle, carrying the mysterious Prometheus crystal (recently discovered during a lunar expedition), but is pursued by the alien aggressors. She is no match for their firepower...

In the Andromeda galaxy, a team of super-powered rebels defeat a group of genetically-engineered Regime soldiers and teleport up to their ship just in time to flee flee a squadron of imperial battle cruisers. Determined to wipe them out, the emperor Regent sends a band of monstrous bounty hunters after them...

Still with me? No? Well, tough because it gets even more complex!  Cosmos from writer Tony Kittrell and various artists (Dody Eka, Shawn Dequesale, Fritz Casas, Charles Penero) is a major crossover event featuring characters from the many different titles produced by Advent comics. They are all costumed, super-powered warriors and there are tons of them. More superheroes than you can shake a stick at. Or a bundle of sticks. Or several trucks full of bundles of sticks...

We're crossing the line way into caped crusader territory here, but the story stays rooted in the arena of cosmic conflict, comfortably straddling both genres. Many of the players are non-human and the battles take place on various diverse planets. Advent very much takes its cue from the best of Marvel's more sci-fi oriented sagas such as the 1970s Captain Marvel, bringing the nostalgic, other-worldly magic of that era up to date.

The action is absolutely non-stop, cramming in a never-ending cast of original characters, each fitting somewhere into the finely-crafted narrative. The sheer number of protagonists here is nothing short of breathtaking, a tribute to the wealth of the producers' imaginative power. Inspiration also comes from mythological and religious sources, adding up to an exotically multifaceted whole.

OK, you might get a wee bit lost here with so much going on, but if you stick with it the many threads do start to pull together and the rich tapestry knits together for you. There is also drama aplenty - some of these good guys really don't like each other very much! - and no end of mystery and intrigue. The artists lay out page after page of colourful spectacle, a relentless visual bombardment that keeps you stimulated throughout the odyssey.

Advent Comics produce a wide range of titles in addition to Cosmos (many of them feature African American protagonists): Pantheon (mythological gods), Spotlight, Blackfire and Titan the Ultraman, The Vanguard (superheroes and magic), Southside (gritty crime noir) and Martial Arts Mayhem. See their website for more details.

Cosmos issues 1 to 4 plus the Cosmos Omni prequel are available on Comicxology; issue 5 is shipping to Kickstarter backers and will be available for widespread release at the end of June.



Cosmos 1-4 on Amazon

Advent Comics






Zak Webber



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