Review - Universal War One 1 - 3

This is an older review I wrote April 12th, 2009.

By: Denis Bajram

I've been interested in European comics for a while. I've read Tin Tin and Astrix, but never really got into them. But back in the day, I picked up the Mobius graphic novels from Epic and I became a fan. And later on from Humanoids Publishing (which I guess DC killed), I really dug the Metabarons and Metal Hurliant. And of course, I just had to pick up the Milo Minara graphic novels for their artistic merits.

And now Marvel is publishing European comics under an imprint called Soliel. So far, they have released a couple series, among them are Sky Doll, Scourge of the Gods, and Y'Thaq, which I've picked up. But here I'll talk about the first story arc of the series Universal War One.

Consisting of three issues, Universal War One is set about 100 years in the future and tells the story of the Purgatory Squadron. A group of felons who are in the midst of a rebellion between Earth and the colonial areas in the outer solar system. All the members of Purgatory have their strengths and flaws, and all of them find out they need each other to not only succeed in battle, but in their life as well.

All the press that I read about this series says that it's a huge European hit, and I guess I can see how it could be. The artwork is very strong and dark. The space images are beautiful. There is a bit near the beginning where an explosion is set off within the rings of Saturn, putting a big hole in the structure, which is then visible throughout the rest of the series. And the designs of the space ships and new technology is pretty cool.

They plot line is a little convoluted, but not too difficult to understand with a little re-reading. It's a typical rebellion war story, with the moral ambiguity where no one side is truly good or evil. Also, the time travel logic seems pretty sound (as far as sci-fi time travel stories go), and the potential to have civilization wide consequences. And that is one of the fun things with this story. The members of Purgatory Squadron are the misfits of the entire army, but I foresee that the entire human race will rest on their shoulders before the end.

So if you're a sci-fi fan, this is definitely worth looking at. Its a solid space opera with some likable characters, strong story, and great art.