It all starts with a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide which astronaut will go on a suicide mission to save the greenhouse on Mars. This being a Brian Azzarello joint, the middle finger wins out.
It seems that Azzarello is tired of working the same ol’ noir beat he’s been walking for many years. Of late, he’s been trying different paths. Perhaps it started with his run on HELLBLAZER, but it definitely came to the forefront with taking the reins on the relaunch of WONDER WOMAN. Here, with SPACEMAN, he takes a trip down the SF path with a tale of men created to be able to withstand the environment on Mars and what happened after the mission failed.
The most startling thing about the book is the language. While those in the media and the upper class speak regular English, those on the fringe, like Orson, the spaceman in question, speak a strange, dumbed down version of the language. Even though one can make perfect sense of the words, it’s kind of hard to get into. The rhythm is so off it hurts. In other words, it portrays the fringe perfectly, where everything sucks and there is no hope. It’s almost like a Robert F. Young story, but without the melancholy tone.
No, Orson’s world is too hard for sadness; bitterness reigns over all. One merely needs to read the exchange about the existence of God to see that. When Rico, another of those who live on the fringe, says, “But olee God can make life. So spaceman equals no God,” he is castigated for being mean. Orson takes it like it is: “That’s not mean, Liz. I was created by man—just like God was.”
But this isn’t just Orson’s story. In this grim future, there is a reality show where a couple of celebrities gather a bunch of orphans together and make them compete against each other to see who will be adopted by the famous. One orphan is kidnapped, and Wade and Cass are the police officers assigned to solve the case. But they run into problems when they have to talk with the couple’s lawyer, an angry Moe lookalike who demands that the police are fingerprinted before they get to talk to the couple. The lawyer has a contract of terms and conditions, and the fact that the celebrities can do this is mindboggling. But think about where our reality show culture is headed, and maybe Azzarello’s not that far off. There’s a lot of social commentary in this masterfully told tale of a future gone bad. A future that has not delivered on its promises. A future that hurts.
And as usual, he’s not alone with his vision. It seems like he was made to work with artist Eduardo Risso. They make the perfect team, like Ennis and Dillon. Risso makes the future look dank and dirty, and he makes Orson look like a strange cross between a muscle-bound human and a monkey. Yet there’s still enough to make the world look futuristic in much the same way that 1950’s movies tried, except the darkness shows everything for the filth it really is.
SPACEMAN is going to be around for nine issues, and get this: the first one is only A BUCK. That’s right, one stinkin’ dollar. What do you have to lose? Give it a shot.
SPACEMAN #1
Written by Brian Azzarello
Illustrated by Eduardo Risso
Published by DC Vertigo
25 pages
$1.00
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