Review: Paradise Planet
Eunice and her husband Peter board a rocketship bound for Rydra-17, 'The Paradise Planet'. Passengers travel within hibernation capsules for the duration of the journey, leaving the crew of two to pass the time (eleven days and nine hours) staving off boredom by reading, exercising and watching a banal soap opera.
Of course, things don't go according to plan. A minor explosion in one of the engines sends the ship out of control, drifting 401 million kilometres off course and crashing on a desolate, nameless desert planet, inhabited only by huge, carnivorous lizards.
Eunice emerges from her pod, which has been thrown clear of the wreckage. She hears cries for help coming from the ship and rescues Captain Glenda, whose leg is broken. Just an ordinary civilian on her way to a vacation up until this point, Eunice now has to dig deep and get in touch with her inner heroine, carrying Glenda out of the wreckage, treating Glenda's broken leg and assembling the hideously complicated emergency beacon.
Then there are the killer lizards to contend with...
Paradise Planet by writer/artist Jesse Lonergan is a delightfully dry comedy that turns the usual clichés on their heads. The characters that should be heroic turn out to be pretty useless (Captain Glenda is an absolute see-you-next-Tuesday) and our Average Jane has to step up to save the day, several times, without any thanks or recognition. Still, her experience comes in handy when she finally arrives at her holiday destination where, due to a tour guide's incompetence, danger once more arises and has to be tackled.
The art is a whimsical cartoon style with deadpan caricatures, retro-futuristic designs and deliciously grotesque alien monsters. The tone is leisurely, edging into lackadaisical when we are following the space travellers, to whom boldly going between planets consists mostly of humdrum routine.
Of course, things don't go according to plan. A minor explosion in one of the engines sends the ship out of control, drifting 401 million kilometres off course and crashing on a desolate, nameless desert planet, inhabited only by huge, carnivorous lizards.
Eunice emerges from her pod, which has been thrown clear of the wreckage. She hears cries for help coming from the ship and rescues Captain Glenda, whose leg is broken. Just an ordinary civilian on her way to a vacation up until this point, Eunice now has to dig deep and get in touch with her inner heroine, carrying Glenda out of the wreckage, treating Glenda's broken leg and assembling the hideously complicated emergency beacon.
Then there are the killer lizards to contend with...
Paradise Planet by writer/artist Jesse Lonergan is a delightfully dry comedy that turns the usual clichés on their heads. The characters that should be heroic turn out to be pretty useless (Captain Glenda is an absolute see-you-next-Tuesday) and our Average Jane has to step up to save the day, several times, without any thanks or recognition. Still, her experience comes in handy when she finally arrives at her holiday destination where, due to a tour guide's incompetence, danger once more arises and has to be tackled.
The art is a whimsical cartoon style with deadpan caricatures, retro-futuristic designs and deliciously grotesque alien monsters. The tone is leisurely, edging into lackadaisical when we are following the space travellers, to whom boldly going between planets consists mostly of humdrum routine.
Luckily Eunice can take responsibility for her own safety, which is just as well because it seems to be a big, bad galaxy out there and you can't rely on anyone else to be your Buck Rogers when the bug-eyed extraterrestrial beasties are bearing down on you...
PARADISE PLANET from Image Comics
Zak Webber
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