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Stan Lee and BOOM! Studios have teamed up to bring us three brand new titles. Each new title has its own creative team, and some pretty exciting hooks to draw readers in. The first release of the three is Soldier Zero, a story about a wheelchair bound man who gets drawn into a galactic war! With Soldier Zero being the highest selling BOOM! comic to date, today on Touring the Cosmos we are going to look at issues #1 & 2.

Soldier Zero

Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Javier Pina
Colors: Alfred Rockefeller
Cover: Various

For a lot of readers, it is hard to leave our roots. We are far too used to our radioactive spiders, last sons, and colorful mutants. Soldier Zero shows us that a great superhero story can come out of a house other than Marvel’s and DC’s.

Issue #1 gives a great look at our main character Capt. Stewart Trautmann. He is an ex-war veteran, having lost use of both of his legs  in a mine explosion. This experience is very haunting to him, because he struggles with the fact that he is considered a hero by those at home, but a nobody by himself.

Trautmann comes home wheelchair bound, taking up a job as an astrology teacher. Cornell really delves into the psyche of Trautmann, giving readers a bit of insight into what it might be like coming back from a war overseas, and the daily struggles some veterans confront.

Not to ruin too much for you future readers, but issue #2 gives us a good look at the alien suit of armor that gives Trautmann his abilities. It explains why Trautmann was chosen, and what a lot of the capabilities of the suit are. Although much has been revealed about the suit, we are still left with a sense of mystery about this alien armor.

Cornell creates a lot of awkward moments between Trautmann and those around him. At first they seem a bit forced, but slowly become a bit more organic. You start to really feel for Trautmann, but don’t necessarily feel pity. You are more rooting for him to succeed rather than dwelling on how hard his situation must be. Cornell does a good job of creating this emotion by introducing a love interest. One thing I really enjoyed about this book was that the pace of the story felt perfect. Nothing was rushed, nothing was force-fed. At the end of the issue I felt like I knew enough to want to read #2, but not enough so that I can predict the whole story.

Javier Pina’s art is a true gem in this book. Coupled with Alfred Rockefeller’s fantastic colors, there is some serious eye candy here. There were a few things that I really liked about the art. I know this may sound silly, but night and day were really easy to notice, and that definitely adds to the atmosphere. I have seen tons of artists and colorists lose track of the time of day, but Pina and Rockefeller really show attention to detail by being on top of this. Pina’s facial expressions are also really well done. When drawing a story that is driven by emotions and feeling, it is key to capture this with a character’s expression. The only gripe I have with the art in this book was the slight lack of detail drawn in the alien armor, but maybe this will be explained later.

Cornell, Pina, and Rockefeller combine to really drive forward an emotion fueled adventure. From the get go, readers are drawn into the drama behind the lead character and are left looking for more. BOOM! and its creative team show what a superhero story should be. Not only are you entranced by the “super” part of the story, you also get to know a really interesting character. If you’re kind of wary of the fact that Stan Lee is attached to this, don’t be. I know that as of late he hasn’t really put out anything worthwhile, but between him and Cornell, Soldier Zero is definitely a throwback to the good old days.

Buy/Fanboys Only/Skip

Mike Parente
mike@comicattack.net