Returning home from their first solo trip to the interstellar bazaar of Cra’Nohn to get supplies, the children of the Independent Science Vehicle Mercury find the spaceship abandoned. Their parents are gone, life support has been turned off, and the escape pods are missing. But Ben, Smack, Alyssa, Daniella, and twins Cody and Trin are smarter than your average children. They know how to run a spaceship and plot a course. Assisted by their trusty Teachbot, they decide to take the ship in to Point Nobel, the science council outpost.
Once there, the scientists in charge seem less interested in where their parents have gone and more interested in what secret research they have been doing for the last ten years. Hundreds of years ago, The Hidden attacked earth. Humanity fled and The Hidden “moved the stars themselves” so that humanity could never go home again. Is it possible that the scientists of the ISV Mercury have found Earth’s coordinates?
Miller (of Smallville and Batgirl fame) has created a wonderful universe, filled with realistic details about how life would be lived between the stars. Takara’s art is clear and expressive. I appreciate the decision to make space a dark blue color, rather than black. Often all black pages become flat and hard to read. These skies twinkle with stars and make a beautiful background for the action.
This work does not break any new ground—the children are spunky and brilliant, the bad guy is dark and brooding—but is is a fun read. It takes a proven action movie scenario and executes it perfectly. Since this was funded through a Kickstarter campaign, I’m not sure if its available anywhere but through the author’s website (http://www.blueskybriccabraq.com/). But it is well worth trying to get your hands on a copy.
Earthward (book 1)
by Bryan Miller
Art by Marcio Takara
ISBN: 9780989903806
Whirligig Entertainment, 2012
Publisher Age Rating: (12 and up)
