Review: Runners
Unpatrolled by Interstellar authorities, these wild frontier sectors are home to all those who exist outside the system and operate outside the law...
The Khoruysa Brimia is a freighter specialising in not-altogether-legal shipments, currently working for gangsters. En route to a rendezvous in the Gamelon system the multispecies crew receives a distress call from the ship from which they are due to transfer cargo. The ship is under attack by marauders. With the cargo at risk, the Khoruysa Brimia increases speed to race to its defence.
When they arrive they find the ship deserted but the cargo mostly intact: several large cylindrical containers. One of these has broken, spilling fluid onto the deck. Lying in the fluid is a young female humanoid with blue skin. Is she crew, passenger... or cargo?
The marauders return - old rivals of Captain Roka - but our heroes prevail and set off with the cargo. Crewman Bocce (who appears to be human, although his left arm is some kind of flexible energy field) takes the mysterious blue girl to sick Bay. Regain g consciousness, she has no memory of where she came from.
Bocce is not happy with the situation. If the blue girl (now going by the name Sky) was inside one of those cylinders, do all the rest contain blue people? Captain Roka believes in asking no questions when it comes to business, but even he is disturbed by the possibility that they are transporting a shipment of slaves...
Runners by writer/artist Sean Wang is a slick, action-packed adventure with humour, intrigue and a relentless pace. His artwork has a fresh, youthful style that will appeal to readers of all ages. The wide variety of aliens are imaginatively designed and smoothly rendered; the spacecraft and architecture lovingly detailed with a semi-nostalgic Star Wars vibe. In a departure from most science fiction tales, most of the central characters are not human, or even humanoid, though their personalities are very much in the familiar vein of loveable reprobates.
There is no shortage of action here: space battles, gun fights, a face-off with the dinosaur-like Jondhi police on flying bikes inside a city literally floating in space... all part of a well-crafted story illustrated with great flair. Wang obviously loves what he does here and it shows; the sense of fun comes across well.
The darker notes remain, however: have the crew of the Brimia crossed an ethical line? Are they still the good guys?
Were they ever?
RUNNERS on Webtoons
Zak Webber
Twitter - @sfcomicartist / Instagram - @sfcomicartist
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