Title: Skyward
Publisher: Image
Writer: Joe Henderson
Artist: Lee Garbett
Price: $3.99
“One day, gravity on earth suddenly became a fraction of what it is now. Twenty years later, humanity has adapted to its new low-gravity reality.”
I haven’t picked up a new comic in quite some time, as you can probably tell by the lack of updates to our comic section here on the site, but when I read the above synopsis about Skyward, I was more than drawn in. Add in the fact that Joe Henderson is on writing duties (showrunner on Lucifer) and this new Image title earned my money. And then when I dove into the book I found likable characters in an engaging story.
Skyward charges right out of the gate with little time to let you get your bearing. Sure, it’s the first issue of an unknown series and they need to grab readers, but I felt like the book was missing pages and wished it had a little more time to breathe. Still, even with it’s pace the book manages to capture some real emotion and has a very natural tone in the writing that is much appreciated.
As this interaction is going on earth’s gravity simply shuts off. It’s not some slow process over years, instead it’s as if someone simply flipped a switch and the world went upside down. It’s an interesting idea and one that is made stronger thanks to the really solid art on display. I’ve found over the years that many artists have one heck of a time depicting flight natually, and showing something like a lack of gravity must be a nightmare.
Sure, you get to set the rules in your world, but giving a static image the sense of weightlessness has to be a challenge. We see this on display as anything not bolted to the ground begin to simply float away into the sky. Lily, the wife of one of the books main characters is caught up in this just outside her home and her husband, Nate, is forced to lose her as she attempts to float back to him, being struck by something in the process and changing directions.
Again, it’s all very silly, but the writing and the art really draw you in and make you feel for these two. To make matters worse, as Nate is about to risk his own life to save his wife he hears the sounds of his infant daughter and is drawn back inside to protect her. It’s a wild few pages and while it does move quickly, it’s enough to really hook the reader into wanting to see where everything goes.
Skyward then jumps forward some twenty years and we get to see how the world has survived this loss of gravity through the eyes of Willa, Nate’s now adult daughter. The world is a resilient one and we get to see how humanity has adapted to life in zero gravity. Science aside (organs sort of need gravity to develop and so on and so forth), we see that things are actually pretty normal.
We see that people now wear harnesses to keep them grounded and fly around using said harnesses that can be connected between buildings. Flight is now also possible and people wear fire extinguishers to use when they can’t attach to anything. It’s all smartly done and it’s nice to see that humanity doesn’t immediately devolve into some Mad Max like world the second something goes wrong.
The story from here on out is about, Willa, who is now a courier making deliveries throughout the city. It’s a fun couple of pages that build Willa up while also slowly letting us into how things work within this comic’s world. We learn the guns don’t work (they’d only push people away) and that couriers are vital as all the vehicles of the world has floated off into space. It’s all a good setup for things to come.
The book closes with Willa confronting her father about wanting to leave town and see the world. Her father argues with her, but the conflict comes from them talking about different things with the books final panel throwing a pretty large hook to readers about just what the heck happened to cause the world to lose gravity. It’s was something hinted at in a single word balloon early on if you are paying attention, but it’s very effective.
At the end of the day Skyward #1 is a really great start and I can only hope the team can keep up the pace and intrigue because it’s world is fantastic. Let’s hope the characters are allowed the room to breathe and develop because if they can, Image has a real winner on their hands.
“Skyward #1 is a fantastic start to a series that already has me hooked”
Final Score
4/5
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