Comic Review: Wasted Space #10

Wasted Space #10

Vault Comics

Writer: Michael Moreci

Artist: Hayden Sherman

For those unacquainted with the world of Wasted Space, get ready for an existential rollercoaster of a space opera. Wasted Space is explicitly explicit in both language and theme. If True Detective and Star Wars meet in a bar and have a drunken one night stand, this is the result. Furthermore, after birth, neither parent really wants to acknowledge this baby’s existence and now that Wasted Space has grown to adolescence with the culmination of arc 2, neither parents feel that sour about the whole situation. But still–I wouldn’t bring it up around either of them. So, what does this final issue of arc 2 offer up?

Story:

For the first time in this series, an event transpires that strains verisimilitude in a real way. Even though gods and miracles exist in the Wasted Space universe, the most basic physics are thrown out the window in this issue, right from the start. However, this doesn’t stunt the issue, as the plot moves along at a brisk pace. Billy Bane and his crew of motley do, in the end, accomplish their mission–but not in the way readers might have thought. The whole arc ends with more questions raised than answers… answered.

Character:

Some of the bleakness that drives the characters feels a little over-the-top, or maybe, on-the-nose. Billy Bane was once considered a prophet of The Creatore, so perhaps it is fitting that, at times, his dialogue feels more like a diatribe. Nonetheless, his antics sometimes feel tiresome. Dust, Billy’s best friend, and a hybrid Fuq/Qil bot (yes, an android that was expressly made for prostitution and assassination (I did mention this comic is explicit, right?)), is perhaps the most human character. He’s certainly the most caring. Molly, the visionary of the lot (like she can see into peoples minds), finds herself on the periphery of events. That is, until the big climax. The one big absence in this issue–in the entire arc, really, is the intriguing monster Legion. What Legion is and what it wants will hopefully get more attention next arc.

Art:

The art in Wasted Space isn’t beautiful. Hayden Sherman and Jason Wordie combine hard lines with rather garish colors. The result is striking and completely appropriate. This story takes place in a nihilistic world. It is harsh and unforgiving and the thick lines and clashing colors employed make for an experience just as abrasive as the world Billy Bane and his friends live in.