The Lost Fleet: Corsair #1
Writer: Jack Campbell
Penciler: Andre Siregar
Inker: Bambang Irawan
Colorist: Sebastian Chang
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Titan
A review by Josh Rose
If you are a fan of Firefly or Battlestar Galactica, you may get a kick out of The Lost Fleet: Corsair #1. The Lost Fleet is a series of novels following the adventures of John “Black Jack” Geary and his descendant, Michael Geary, as they fight for the Alliance in a war against the Syndicate. The Lost Fleet: Corsair #1 sees Michael Geary try to live up to his Great Uncle’s legacy as a war hero only to be captured by the Syndicate. He is then offered a chance at freedom by Destina Aragon who is rebelling against the Syndicate and wants to go home.
Jack Campbell makes the transition from novels to comics with The Lost Fleet: Corsair #1. This is an easy to read book with easy to follow panel layout. They do provide a recap page to introduce people to the series universe but I still felt like I was dropped into the middle of a story. I don’t know why there’s a war to begin with, and I don’t know anything about the Alliance or Syndicate other than they’re both about to collapse after a century of fighting. I don’t know which side I should want to win, though I assume because the main character in this series is a Captain for the Alliance I should be leaning that way. I am intrigued and want to know more about Michael’s Uncle “Black Jack”, about the legacy he left and why he is such a big deal to the Alliance, but I don’t particularly want to go read the Lost Fleet novels to find out.
I feel like Campbell and Andre Siregar should’ve included a few panels illustrating the history so far rather than a text box quickly summarizing what’s happened. I do find it interesting that the ranks in the Syndicate military aren’t conventional titles like General or Captain. Rather they use Honorable Executive and CEO. I’m curious as to whether this is a commentary on capitalist society and its relationship with war but I will need to read more to know for sure.
This book looks like everything you would expect from a futuristic space epic. High tech prisons, circuit board wall art, laser guns, battle armor and sleek spacesuits, and of course spaceships! Its full of awesome intense action scenes and Siregar does a wonderful job showing emotions on the characters’ faces, but the best panels in The Lost Fleet: Corsair #1 has to be the ones where we see purple and red nebulas in the background of space.
The Verdict
Wait and See – I enjoy gigantic space epics as much as the next person and The Lost Fleet: Corsair #1 is full of incredible art and action sequences, but I’m not really feeling the story. I have too many questions to start and I don’t feel like they’ll be answered in this series. I will be checking out the trade when it comes out. I feel I will enjoy this more as a complete story rather than in individual issues.
