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Outpost Zero #1
Publisher: Image Comics/Skybound
Story: Sean Kelley McKeever
Pencils: Alexandre Tefenkgi
Inks: Alexandre Tefenkgi
Colors: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Cover: Alexandre Tefenkgi

Image’s Skybound (The Walking Dead, Invincible, Extremity) takes a step toward some of the darker and notably more mature content the imprint has been known for with this existentialist young adult title. Growing up in the confines of a nondescript outworld colony, Alea and her friends find themselves subject to the weight of an oppressive caste-like hierarchy derived from a utilitarian stratification of the social order. Seemingly stranded, subsisting within a crippled habitat, and rationing limited resources, the denizens of Outpost Zero are conscripted as adolescents into lives of service based on occupational aptitude.

Writer Sean Kelley McKeever has crafted a compelling introduction to the science fiction epic, with an unassuming melancholy underlying the nuanced urgency of Outpost Zero #1. Themes of self-discovery, overt parental pressure, alienation, and depression are sprinkled in around the specter of looming catastrophe. McKeever’s teens are intelligent and often self-assured, though they challenge one another in frank philosophical exchanges that enrich McKeever’s narrative and Alexandre Tefenkgi’s tonal landscape. Framed by the deliberate pacing, the authenticity in these sequences is what makes the social dynamics engaging and the characters relatable.

The art from Tefenkgi is appropriately reserved, bolstering the sense of scarcity and isolation. The cool palette reflects not just the icy confines of the habitat and frigid expanse beyond, but the creeping and pervasive sadness of those living on the edge of oblivion. The once-proud offspring, now simply fostered by a marooned generational vessel previously honored with carrying the future of humanity, are now largely resigned to inevitability. They march inexorably toward a withered fate that Alea wants no part of. Like her parents, she seeks to push forward and explore the planet beyond the airlocks, potentially discovering the means to save her people. Among her peers, she is uniquely intent on testing the bounds of what is known and accepted, even at great risk to her safety and that of the Outpost.

I do appreciate McKeever’s storytelling. He and Tefenkgi have put together a witty and engrossing coming of age tale, rife with grounded, material conflicts and ethical quandaries. I came away from Outpost Zero #1 maybe with a little less hope than I would have liked, but also with a firm intention to root for the ingenuity and resilience of the brilliantly defiant and resourceful Alea. There are indeed hard times ahead for the inhabitants of Outpost Zero, but there is also an enduring tenacity and resolve to persist and thrive. Only time will tell if such youthful exuberance will be a measure of fortune or folly.

Christian Davenport
cable201@comicattack.net