Indie Comics Review: Salvagers ISSUE 1

SALVAGERS: Visual Storytelling Done Right

There are many space opera sci-fis out there. Stories where you watch characters go from nobodies on a farm to galactic heroes whose names are spoken in awe by its denizens. SALVAGERS is not one of them; though that's not a bad thing.

I was given the opportunity to read their first issue when the creators of Salvagers graciously gave away free PDFs of the book to celebrate 10k followers. This premiere of the series quickly introduces us to the crew of the Harrier, the calculating Teagan bickering with the computer A.V.R.I, the quirky Brigby, Mighty T'yr, and of course the roughneck Cpt. Roanick. The first novel introduces them not as heroes but blue collar labor, a theme of the series that originally drew my interest. These "Salvagers" are a group of people trying to make money harvesting old wrecks that are drifting through space post a huge galactic war.

Bob Salley really nails a few features of this first book. In a one page blurb without too much text he is able too give you context so that you can grasp the state of this galaxy and basic economics, it was so short and sweet that I wish George Lucas could have seen it before making episode 1 whose dialog was washed out with economic and trade discourse. The first issue also really drives home the relationships of this crew, while they are concerned about each other, they aren't tight as family; rather they are coworkers - trying to do a job while not getting killed by automated security in

Its this "let the page speak" presentation that I really admire as a fellow comic creator. Too often you have huge blocks of text that are hogging otherwise beautifully rendered pages that try to educate the reader about the world their entering but only end up alienating them, even more so if the book is a science fiction piece. It is something that I feel plagues the industry especially "the big 2" who often need these word chunks to outline decades of prior history and timelines of their characters. Its terrible, and that is why Marvels "nuff said" series in the 90s really spoke to me... No pun intended. They used pictures exclusively! That was remarkable for the entertainment industry that has gotten too reliant on narration, reading large blocks of text,
and seemingly unable to leave things implied.
otherwise dead warships or sucked out into space. In just 24 pages he is also able to give you a firm grasp of who these characters are using subtle hints in the communication between each crewmember, such as Brigby betting on T'yr destroying something emphasizing that character as a bruiser sort of archtype.

Let me get off the soapbox simply to say that Salley has started strong. It allows the artist that he works, George Acevedo to create really engaging gritty images. These are chock full of Jim Lee levels of detailed backgrounds, and he creates doodads and circuit panels and so many other eyecatching inventions to fill the image. One page I really liked visually was page 5 where Teagan is arguing with the computer , Acevedo doesn't just fill the screen with nonsense, he has actual blueprints displayed their of the wreck they are investigating. A ton of work for such a simple detail that only seen on one page. That's crazy! I like that kinda crazy. As far as his visuals his visual story telling and even his stylistic leanings remind me of early Adam Kubert work, specifically on the 90s X-men. Its this ability that really moves the action along and allows your eye to flow smoothly along the page.

As far as lettering goes there isn't really anything groundbreaking or special there and the letterer does a capable job telling a story. That's not to downplay that ability as early letterers often can make a mess of the page. The one thing they may have considered is when transporting the letters from whatever program they use they might want to consider adjusting its color as black text moved from a program like Illustrator to Photoshop lose their crisp black element, and you end up having words and word bubbles that are grey and it just looks a little lazy and sloppy.

Those minor nitpicky grievances aside my interest was originally peaked in Salvagers because of a little number called Starlight Tavern. A comic-strip comedy that is an extreme foil to Salvagers, as Salvagers tone overall is dark and has muted colors and thick dark inks, the Starlight Tavern, meanwhile, is fun and bright and welcoming. Both series are worth as shot, and I think these guys really have something special. They have 2 other issues of their book out and a 4th on the way so you don't have to worry about the series ending on a frustrating cliffhanger... You can salvage them from Comixology or their store.

All in all, Salvagers was a refreshing break from the norm of glorified farmboys in space, and I have to say I'm looking forward to more.

This guy SirGryphon is a scifi junky and he eats it for breakfast and dinner. He works on his own scifi over at Gryphon Knights Comics called the WOW Signal.