Delta 13 #1 –
IDW Publishing
Written by Steve Niles
Art by Nat Jones
Letters by Tom B. Long
To me, the cornerstone of great science fiction is a good space exploration story. That is one of the things that made me fall in love with science fiction in the first place. Star Trek, at it’s core, was about exploration (in my view), but with science fiction there is always more to it than that. So it’s only fitting that the same week we find out The Expanse may be saved by Amazon, we get a new book from IDW to satisfy our need. Let’s take a trip with Delta 13.
The story follows a crew that appears to be tasked with exploring the asteroid belt and deploying vehicles to document said asteroids. In the early part of the book, the story seems pretty simple. It seems like a normal crew, on a routine mission and already thinking about their next step. How often does THAT work out in these kinds of stories. Minor spoiler here, but it’s in the initial description so I’ll use it here, the crew comes upon a massive, undiscovered asteroid. It’s at this point where my anxiety as a fan kicks in. This is when you try to find out exactly when the other shoe is going to drop. I won’t say anything else from here, other than the fact that this book pretty much has the perfect ending.
If I’m being honest, the first thing that caught my eye about this book was the amazing cover by Nat Jones. Since he also does the interior art, we get a whole book full of that same incredible work. He captures the dark and mysterious angle of this story so well, you almost don’t need words. That being said, Steve Niles takes us from pedestrian to intriguing almost with a snap of the fingers. Things seem normal, then there’s a jolt and you’re hooked. The characters had a good dynamic, and that is without us knowing much about most of them. If I’m think interested now, I can only imagine how much more I’ll be drawn in by the next issue.
RATING: PULL / BUY