SCI-FI COMIC NEXUS

"I'm a human. From the planet Earth." "Your planet's name is 'Rock'. Makes sense if your world is rocky." "It's actually 70% water." "Uh, okay." In  Brute: The Toughest Teddy Bear In The Galaxy  issues 0 and 1 we were introduced to Kodee a.k.a. Brute, a short, green furry alien with immense strength and a love for brawling.  One day on Tars Station he sees a young being fighting with three huge Plactori aliens. The smaller being is a species unfamiliar to Brute, something called a 'human'; young, female and wearing a slave collar. Whoever she is, she doesn't stand a chance... So continues the tale that started in issues 0 and 1. Here we learn Brute's backstory and how he came to join the crew of the Vanguard as a bounty hunter (his incredible strength - due to his home planet's immense gravity - making him a very useful addition.  On Brute's homeworld water only exists as underground ice and it has to b...

13 is looking for Camille. She stole his heart. She also took his arms... In this near-future dystopia the poor sell their body parts to the rich. The gulf between the haves and the have-nots is great; some of the elite have even emigrated to orbital habitats, far from the squalor of the Earth below. The reason 13 has a number instead of a name is because his parents continued to produce child after child until one of their offspring displayed a valuable asset: 13 is artistic, which makes his arms an attractive commodity. It is the only hope of lifting him and his mother out of poverty. The trade in flesh is big business for the transplant clinics and the streets are filled with their motivational placards:  YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL - SELL IT SELL YOUR SPECIAL TO SOMEONE WHO DESERVES IT YOU NEED MONEY NOT TALENT Donors receive fully-functional prosthetic replacement organs and limbs, but when you live in a world in which you can literally sell yourself off piece by piece, how much ca...

"They make you the thing, you might as well be the thing." A dying Earth is the battleground for a war between nature and science. Outside the city wall is 'the Zone' which has been claimed by Neo-Luddites, an area in which no technology is allowed and people try to live a traditional, rustic existence. They believe that over-reliance on our gadgets has led to ruin. In the city gas masks are a common accessory due to the toxic air. Society is fractured, sickness and poverty all around. Then came the aliens. Not to invade, not to rescue humanity but to collect samples: seeds and embryos to preserve a living record of the doomed planet's lifeforms. Disguised behind gas masks they pass unnoticed in the dark, desolate streets. Astra works for The Scoop, a tabloid that specialises in sensationalist stories. She learns about Lola, a disabled woman who has a secret alien lover.... and who is pregnant. The Seeds  by writer Ann Nocenti and artist David Aja is a somewhat su...

May 2031: Pollution is choking the Earth and making people sick. In England Iain Ortha is diagnosed with a terminal, incurable illness. His only option is cryogenic suspension. Perhaps one day, decades from now, there will be a treatment and he can be revived... February 2528: Mai Taren is the young daughter of a freighter captain, transporting goods throughout the solar system. Earth was evacuated centuries ago due to its toxic atmosphere and people now live in orbital habitats and a few scattered colonies further out. Mai and her father are delivering cargo to the Tel, a genetically and culturally distinct race who inhabit an asteroid colony in the outer system. Both Iain and Mai are about to have their worlds turned upside-down by events beyond their control... Flux by writer/artist Andy J Clarke is a tense thriller set in a future where humanity is scattered throughout the vast reaches of the solar system. In this dark, lonely expanse danger is never very far away, as Mai discover...

"Toward what end does man venture forth into an eternal night of death?" 2001 Nights by writer/artist Yukinobu Hoshino is a hard science fiction manga anthology series that explores the issues surrounding humankind's ventures into space. Hard sci-fi - fiction in which the science is real-world and non-speculative - is rarely presented in a comics/manga format; most readers want bug-eyed aliens teleporting from their faster-than-light starships. The hard side has its own, authentic appeal, however, and there is plenty of scope for this to be produced in an artistically pleasing fashion for the reader. The vistas of space, the landscapes of the moons and planets of our solar system and the designs of our spacecraft and orbital stations provide ample scope for fantastic arenas in which arresting narratives can play out. The limitations placed on the story by the realistic sciences involved, rather than hampering it, provide greater depth, forcing the authors to use their im...