Review: Untitled Generic Space Comedy
"There's two of them and two of us. If I'm honest I'm not even sure how this is gonna work with the insect chick, but I'm still gonna get my larvae on and find out."
Zak Webber
The Intergalactic Space Federation has accepted the membership of Earth and has shared its warp technology with us. The final frontier is ours to explore! Exciting adventures await!
Just one teensy problem: Thanks the the ISF the galaxy has been at peace for over a century. There are no brave new worlds to seek out. No evil empires to contend with. No despotic megalomaniac villains to battle. There is simply... work. Business as usual.
For Jim O'Hara, long distance lorry driver from London, it's all a bit of a let down. Hauling one hundred tons of genetically enhanced flying buffalo wings between star systems is really not quite what he envisaged when he signed up to boldly go...
When he and his fellow trucker Scott find a bar to go and "blow off some steam", Jim is still not impressed. Scott's idea of fun is a little interspecies intimacy with a couple of local females (adjective, not noun; there are no other humans around), but Jim is disappointed that the bar is not a bit more... lively?
When one of the patrons accidentally knocks someone's drink over, Jim sees an opportunity to step in and mediate.
What could possibly go wrong...?
Untitled Generic Space Comedy by writer Matt Garvey and artist John McFarlane is exactly what it says on the tin, a very funny, well put together story that sends up several popular sci-fi tropes with just the right level of knowing geek humour. The art is spot-on too; plenty of cool quirky aliens and nicely detailed backgrounds (space stations, orbital vistas, interiors) all comically well-crafted.
Garvey is a successful producer of comics who has also created many very useful how-to videos in which he shares his wisdom with fellow amateur/entrepreneur comic creators. UGSC is a handy little showpiece (practically a freebie at £0.99 for the digital version) and an excellent example of Garvey's philosophy; a short, inexpensive work that gives potential readers an easy taster to whet their appetite for more of the same.
This is also a perfect example of a comic made by people who love comics, and it shows because they know exactly which boxes to tick. The entertain-as-you-would-be-entertained maxim is beautifully illustrated.
All Jim wants is to spice things up a bit. There's nothing like a little punch-up to add a certain ambience to a night out drinking, am I right? I mean.... what's the worst that could happen?
Zak Webber
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