Know Your Station

Know Your Station #1-5

by Sarah Gailey (Writer), Liana Kangas (Artist), Rebecca Nalty (Colorist)

Death Is the Great Leveler, Even for the top 1%!

The wealthiest people in the solar system abandoned the Earth for a sanctuary in space, leaving the poor to die from climate change. But the 1% won’t be safe for long… because a murderer is on the loose, with the rich as their target! Soon Elise, an employee on the billionaires’ space station, is wrapped up in a deadly investigation, dragged deeper into the conspiracy as the last body she wants to go missing does. Even worse, her withdrawals from a highly addictive substance are getting worse and causing terrible hallucinations. But those drug-induced delusions are nothing compared to the gut-wrenchingly grisly discoveries at the heart of this deadly whodunnit… Bestselling novelist Sarah Gailey (Eat the Rich, Just Like Home) and rising artistic star Liana Kangas (TRVE KVLT) take a stab at the ultra-wealthy, their dreams of escaping the planet they’ve put in peril, and the consequences of that economic terror in the near future… Collects Know Your Station #1-5.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Mystery, Horror, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

144 pages, Paperback

Published September 26, 2023

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the wealth and resources of society all seem to be flowing upward towards the obscenely wealthy, one may grow concerned that the sci-fi futures that enchant our imaginations may be reserved only for those who have financially elbowed their way into the future at the cost of those beneath them. Such is the case in Sarah Gailey’s graphic novel, Know Your Station, wonderfully illustrated by Liana Kangas in boisterous colors are brutal violence to depict a society aboard a spacecraft to comfortably house the world’s billionaires. Though their space station becomes a locked-room mystery setting when someone begins murdering the billionaires in such visceral and dramatically crafted ways that it could be taken as artistic expression. To complicate matters, the woman tasked with finding the killer is currently experiencing extreme nausea and hallucinations from detoxing off the space-age designer drug, Blue, and hiding evidence because it all points to her. Though, truthfully, the working class on the ship doesn’t seem to mind a few billionaires getting axed and all feel oppressed by them so the list of potential suspects is vast. This is a fun read, and while it is a bit over the top and on-the-nose that is part of Gailey’s charm as the story confronts ideas of economic disparity and AI ethics in art and surveillance in this futuristic whodunnit.

Sarah Gailey is no stranger to the graphic novel world with works like their Eat the Rich or comics set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe. That said, there are times where I felt this might have read better as a novel. It can get a bit wordy in the frames and while I tend to enjoy speculative fiction that drops you in the middle and makes you figure it out through context, that seems to work less successfully here as the first issue (this work is comprised of five issues) is a bit cumbersome to follow just trying to figure out all the whos, whats, and whys. However, art is a key element to the story so I see why making this a graphic novel felt truer to the heart of things and it does lean into the medium for some really eye-popping colors and gore.

The story is pretty fun and occasionally confusing as a way to embody the confusion of the main character, Elise, and while it is a tad heavy handed at the end it is also all really interesting socio-economic and ethical questions. I enjoy how this looks at the issues of AI art essentially copying the work of others or how people who fund ideas but do very little in actually making the ideas function often get all the credit instead of the people who did the actual work. There’s some great quips about the working class being oppressed and nods to a whole slew of issues around privatization of essential services. It’s very on-the-nose in its delivery, but it works.

I had a lot of time to kill today sitting in a hospital waiting room and Know Your Station was an engaging way to pass the time. In short: I think it would have been better explored in novel form, especially to give the exciting but under-explored anti-capitalist themes more nuance beyond surface mentions, but I was glad for the art as well.

3.5/5

[Alyson Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

What could go wrong? A future where the rich elite escaped the damaged earth to leave the masses to tough out climate change at its worst.
They escape to this perfect space colony where an AI with a penchant for all things creative (?!) It.Really.Does.Go.Wrong.
The plot wasn't too difficult to work out, but the truly great thing about this graphic novel is the illustrations and use of colour. It's amazing!
Anyone who might wonder, 'Could AI become sentient?' Is going to be left a little unsettled after reading this 😬

[Chantaal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeesh, this is not good. The mystery is not great, the character work is almost non-existent, the murderer was pretty obvious from the very start, and the entire motive reveal was honestly so bad and quite cringeworthy.

The art was not good either, which made all the shock factor Hannibal wannabe murder scenes have no punch whatsoever. Oh, is that a dude flayed and holding his own skin? Oh, a dude with his lungs on the outside of his body? Meh. At some point the artist kinda gives up and the last two issues seem to take place in colorful voids with no real sense of place.

I didn't expect much from this, and it was still disappointing. I normally enjoy Gailey's writing, but they are yet another prose author whose writing did not translate to comics.

[Sana · Rating 4 out of 5]

'I don't believe in moral absolutes'

Oh wow, the way this is so relevant to the current issues surrounding AI especially using it to generate art. I got chills, NGL. Plus the gore in this a lot but also very creative that I couldn't look away from the violence of it all. This should be a must read for everyone, really. 10/10 would recommend!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was awesome! it was full of twists and surprises and the ending was sooooo satisfying. Just a warning that it is fairly gruesome but if you can handle a couple of gross murders it is very rewarding.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The First Resort is a state-of-the-art refuge for the 1%, a space station that allows them to live the comfortable lives they feel they deserve while the rest of us are left to deal with Earth and the effects climate change have had on it. The best the rest of us can hope for is to be employees on the First Resort, making the 1% feel secure and better about themselves while they nickel and dime us for every aspect of our existence. But hey, it's still better than being back on Earth.

Station Security Liaison Elise is one of First Resort's employees, and she has a problem. Well, many problems, but her biggest one right now is that someone has gruesomely killed CFO Alberto Fairmilk and she has approximately zero training in figuring out who did it. Also, she has a drug problem - she'd really like to get clean, but she absolutely does not have time for withdrawal symptoms right now. Granted, she also doesn't have time to be blissed out on Blue.

The dark humor was part of what drew me to this graphic novel. The back-and-forth between Elise and St. Brigid, the station AI, was great - Elise was a disaster doing her best to push her horror under the surface so that her employers wouldn't realize how useless she was in this situation, and it wasn't always easy to tell whether St. Brigid was being serious or wryly humorous, but either way, I loved their conversations.

The killer was pretty obvious - I'm not sure anyone would have been able to commit some of the murders that happened in this volume (how was that scene with the lungs and the talking even possible??), but if anyone was going to be able to manage it, it was clear who it was. However, this wasn't just about whodunnit, but also about the world in which these characters lived.

The artwork wasn't really to my taste, and the shifts from one scene to the next could be extremely choppy, to the point that I had to reread the page to figure out what happened and whether we were in a new scene. I was still mostly able to follow along with the story, but it did detract slightly from my enjoyment.

Overall, I enjoyed this, although I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. Warning: it's extremely dark. (I mean, probably not surprising in a graphic novel that starts with murder victim whose skin was removed in two whole pieces, but still.) At the same time...we currently have billionaires happily taking trips into space while the people who work for their companies can't find affordable housing or healthcare, so...

Extras:

An afterword by Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas, a cover art gallery, character designs, and a few sketches.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Alasdair Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

timely, hilarious, furious, fantastic

This was a very very good week, and year, to read this book. A remarkably kind, open hearted Molotov of a book. Throw it at your brain now.

[Huda Shaltry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly the book I needed to read this week!! And that AFTERWORD!! Ugh, Sarah Gailey writes the absolute best afterwords. I am putting this afterword in a frame on my wall. 💕💕💕

[kaitlphere · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the story pretty predictable. I liked the character of Marin and the covers.

[Rach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part murder mystery, part takedown of the 1%’s capitalist and anti-humanity agenda, this thoughtful graphic novel is built both to shock and radicalize. In an extremely-plausible future, billionaires have privatized and ruined every industry, service, and product, making life on earth unlivable to the point that the most sought-after job is as a servant on their luxury space cruiser. Unfortunately for the rich, there’s now a murderer loose on the ship and it’s up to a couple of their disillusioned crew members to figure out what’s going on.

The art in this book is gorgeous, with luscious colors and bold lines. I also loved the way the plot twists and turns in a satisfying way - at least if you’re not a billionaire intent on taking over the galaxy for your own comfort and whims. I find it infinitely hilarious that the downfall of the rich in this story is the AI they trained on art, and then took credit for the art they produced. I doubt this book will be an awakening for the rich people who need it, but it’s satisfying from down here amongst the masses, and it’s a good reminder of the core aspects of humanity. As the creators say in their afterward, being part of a community means you are “deserving of care and patience and understanding.” When you exempt yourself from the community by hoarding your wealth and resources, you’ve exempted yourself from care, too.

[Benjamin]

How? Saw it at the library on the new shelf.

What? In the near future, the superwealthy have a space station crewed by people working off their debts. Our protag is the security liaison with a drug habit, who is not prepared for some gruesome and mysterious deaths among the wealthy. Who will be next? With only the help of the ship's kooky AI and her friend, can she solve the mystery of the deaths?

Yeah, so? Yeah, so, maybe I'm just too ingrained with a certain plots, but this was sold as a mystery (for instance, in the back copy) but was never really mysterious to me -- and I don't think it's really supposed to be so mysterious. It's mysterious to the protag because she's too close to really see it, but that's kind of the point: who is doing the killing for real on Earth? As Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas argues in her ferocious afterword, it's the rich -- and we're just too used to it to see it, but we better wake up to that fact soon:

The ultimate project of wealth is an effort to exempt oneself from the very concept of humanity.
They've told us how to treat them. We see no reason to argue.

[Jay W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another banger from Jeanie in the mail. Idk how she keeps finding short stories and comics about trans communists overtaking the elite with fucked up robots but it hits just right every time. The art in this one is so good, I tore through it in one sitting and it was great.

[Shane Stanis · Rating 5 out of 5]

IRCB 2024 Reading Challenge

Read for bright colors and a murder mystery in space.

CW: body mutilation

[Eunice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable and a little too on the nose, but a fun read nonetheless. The ending was also pretty satisfying.

[Addie Macioce · Rating 5 out of 5]

sarah gailey, ily

[Elodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the drawings, the main characters and the AI but the story could have been longer and more developed. we don't know much about all the murdered persons so it's difficult to feel either empathy or disgust for them directly.
I wanted more context instead of long debate about the blue drug

But I'm getting more curious about Gailey's novels and will read more in the future

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of fell off at the end.

[Billy Jepma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started great but fizzles out right before the finishing line to end on a weirdly anticlimactic, almost rushed note. The ride getting there was worth it, though—the irreverent tone and total lack of subtlety with its “fuck the rich and fuck capitalism” messaging are blunt, a little juvenile, and mostly very fun. But there’s not much depth to any of it, which, while certainly not necessary for a dark comedy/satire like this, limits its reach as a narrative. Characters are interesting, yet don’t develop that much during the story. I enjoyed my time with the cast, and the ultimate reveal at the end is clever—the story just needed more time in the oven. Even one more issue might’ve been enough to let the characters, motivations, and themes become something more memorable and distinct.

The art is a consistent delight, though. Bright colors, unique layouts, surprising bursts of gore—it’s a fun comic to look at, front to back. Kangas’ illustrations are expressive and breathe a lot of life into the space station setting, while Nalty’s coloring functions as the series’ secret weapon, injecting lots of personality and playful vibrancy into the pages that highlight and elevate the writing and illustrations. I still wish the storytelling had more going in beneath the surface. I couldn’t help but be disappointed at how quickly the mystery wrapped up, as it skirts over any potential moral dilemmas or interrogations. I even support the thematic slant the comic ends on, but I wanted more from it. Still, this is a breezy, worthwhile read if the pitch appeals to you at all—it does what it says on the cover, so as long as you don’t expect more than that, you’ll have a good time.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh no! Somebody is killing the 1%! Somebody ought to do something!
Or maybe not.

Unsubtle, but entertaining.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of torn on this one - while I appreciate the reasoning that led up to the end game, I can't say I am fine with the results.

3.5 Stars (Rounded up to 4)

[Clint · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not good! The premise sounds like it could be a fun sci-fi murder mystery take on the sort of bluntly anti-capitalist comics I’ve enjoyed from Mark Russell, but the writing here wasn’t as good as Russell’s, or even good at all really. A lot of what didn’t work for me might be Gailey primarily having written books before instead of comics, so the pacing and dialogue consistently felt “off” for the medium in an uncertain but persistent way that kept me from ever connecting with it.

The murder investigation is hindered by the main character repeatedly self-medicating with hallucinogens; the substance-abusing detective is a common trope, but usually they’re somehow clear-headed enough to maintain a sense of momentum or agency. Here, there’s a couple of fun paranoid pages of her actively being high, but then considerably more pages of her being in an overwhelmed confused state of withdrawal, making her investigation more like watching a convoluted thriller with a too-high roommate who keeps asking “wait, so what’s going on again?” The killer’s identity is pretty obvious from the beginning, even though the investigator doesn’t seem to have a clue, so she stumbles between Grand Guignol murder scenes in an anxious haze until finally everything gets dumped out in the obligatory killer monologue at the very end. The epilogue then shows a delusional new status quo that makes zero narrative sense.

The ideological presentation is incredibly slight, merely reiterating a grab bag of popular progressive stances without any meaningful examination or exploration of any of them. It reads like someone righteously tweeting “ACAB” and expecting the likes to come rolling in. I mean, sure, ACAB, but do you have anything interesting or at least maybe funny to go along with it, or just the familiar slogan?

The cover art is nice, and Kangas is clearly talented, but the ugly panel art has a rushed, amateurish look that reminds me of the worst sort of uninspired fill-in art Marvel or DC might resort to for an issue that has to go out the door.

[Sem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some time in the early 2010's the world groaned, as yet another romance-heavy YA-series adaptation rolled out onto the screens. Before that, horror lovers bemoaned the diminishing returns of the zombie subgenre, where even the late, great George Romero struggled to deliver anything new. Then before that were other genres and, after today, more will come. Inevitably, the zeitgeist becomes a ghost of the past and similar works that could seem fresh and fun out of context start to appear stale.

My point is that Know Your Station is pretty damn fun but it lives in a world where satire about evil billionaires has reached the exact point described above. Mark Russell alone has populated the genre with copious works and others have followed suit, with savvy stories about the horrors of late stage capitalism. So no matter how curious Gailey's world seems, how funny the jokes are, it feels like you're watching yet another spaghetti western/noir flick with a femme fatale/high-school comedy among a stable of similar stories. Sure, it's much gorier than anything Russell's done and it seems a bit more optimistically inclined, but the building blocks are familiar. If you've never read a story like this before or have a general affinity for the genre, you'll find this to be a good time. But if you've read these aplenty and have developed fatigue from this story direction... well, this one isn't gonna reinvent the wheel.

All of that isn't actually a knock against the comic, which stays entertaining throughout, but it's more a lament of how the entertainment industry works against art - saturating niches to the point of bursting. This one won't break the camel's back but I pity the poor person who does another one of these some time in 2025 or 2026. They'll get eviscerated by the same people who would have loved it just four years prior.

[Alex Sarll]

The First Resort is the space station where the world's worst billionaires have taken refuge from the state of the Earth they've so profitably devastated. Obviously it also needs staff, and despite the intrusive regime and the awful bosses, that's still about as good a life as the 99% can hope for, so there's no shortage of applicants. When the billionaires start turning up dead, the staff might seem the obvious suspects - but as the station's security chief says, if the staff were going to kill the residents, wouldn't they already have done it by now? Conversely, it seems unlikely that any of the board would have managed it themselves, because that would require a level of practical competence none of them ever demonstrate. And it doesn't help her investigation that she's mostly either on or struggling to quit the drugs to which the situation has driven her, massively underqualified, and can't trust the station AI's records. The culprit was obvious a mile off (even if I was only half-right about the motive), and the ending felt a bit kumbaya. But at its best - by which I mean its most absurdly awful, like plutocrat bedside reading Atlas Vaped, or the motivational slogan "The choice to choose is a choice only winners have ever chosen" - it reminded me of on-form Mark Russell, and that's very much a compliment.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted a bit more from this story. I loved the idea and the set up, but I found the pacing/plot of the middle pretty lackluster. Also, the resolution ( where it turned out the ship's AI, Brigid, was killing because she was an artist/wanted to be creative???) was a strange, not super interesting, choice. Literally right before that Marin has this whole discussion about class and capitalism that was really interesting, but that ultimately really went nowhere. In the aftermath of the deaths, the staff does rehab the ship to focus on staff wellbeing more, and Brigid gets to mess with the drugged rich people and be creative/artistic with them, but it's less like shocking and creepy and more of an "oh that's it?" sort of moment. I will say, though, that there are some interesting questions posed about AI art which are really prevalent and compelling. However, I honestly think that this topic could have been explored even better in novel form--there just wasn't enough space in 5 single issues to explore this topic with nuance and depth.
That combined with the lack of depth from the characters and the setting made this just an OK graphic novel. I love this author, though, and I really think this could be spectacular but it was just needing some fleshing out, and maybe stronger motivations for the characters and culprit.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas deconstruct the rich in their science fiction murder mystery Know Your Station. The top 1% have left a damaged planet behind for luxury lifestyles aboard a spaceship. Elise is hired on as one of the daily staff, tasked with simple investigative matters aboard the vessel. Things go sideways when one of the elite is discovered flayed and hanging from the rafters. Tasked with discovering who could have accomplished the grisly murder, Elise teams with the artificial intelligence St. Brigid to uncover the truth. As the body count rises, Elise learns of the fine line between justice and vengeance. Gailey generates a fairly straightforward whodunnit that most readers will solve fairly quick. The majority of the characters are little more than background cardboard with name tags, making their deaths - despite the gruesome details - almost nonchalant. The effort seems to a treatise on current socioeconomic failings as opposed to the story at hand. Kangas does a better job with the artistic handiwork, rendering beautifully horrific panels and hallucinatory images amid multiple pages of talking heads. Know Your Station is a pretty piece of propaganda weighing down an average mystery tale.

[Brandon Woodard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a good sense of who the killer was within the first few pages so I found myself just wanting to get to the end to see how they closed the story. The ending was a bit of a twist. It is a good story and some of the complexities with drug use, socioeconomic dynamics, and interpersonal relationship dynamics really made me think about the implications in life today.

If the killer wasn’t so easily identifiable, I think it would have made this story even better. Also, I’m not that familiar with the writer but it seems like her bent is to write about the dynamics between the rich and poor and it shows up towards the end of the story. It felt like I was supposed to feel like the story was justified but in the end I left so uneasy.

Would I read it again? Maybe.

[Mike Jorgensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot, it was similar to Eat The Rich thematically. The main message, and yes, it has one of those, is telegraphed pretty early and often especially if you're familiar with their writing. However, this book still found a pleasant way to surprise me by including issues with AI, art, and adding the whodunit component.

Issues 1 - 4 were a bit difficult to follow because of a lot of character names that were pretty meaningless. Combine that with the drug-induced haze of the protaganist and it is difficult to know what is important.

By the end, I liked this more than Eat the Rich and that surprised me. Can't wait to see what is next from Sarah!

[Tyler Vale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. The beginning was very strong, and the AI is quite funny/well-written. I didn't love the ending, and saw the reveal coming a mile away.

The art is decent, but sometimes the color scheme (particularly when the speech bubbles are highlighted in pink) makes it seem a little bit amateur despite the characters being well-drawn.

Overall it is good, and I loved the first half. It's hard to say what made the end fall a little flat for me. Sort of a perfect storm of unrealistic character reactions to the reveal combined with a touch of rub-your-face-in-the-message I suppose. Worth a read nonetheless.

[Pturingan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's well written with lots of twists and turns like a good whodunnit and definitely kept me turning the pages. I did not like the interior art but it wasn't enough to ruin my enjoyment though. It's also very heavy handed in its critiques of capitalism, social exploitation, artificial intelligence, and other issues and you can easily tell how far to left the creators lean. I mean I agree with most of the sentiments (but not murder!) but I think I'd like a little more subtlety when it comes to my entertainment. Still, a fun read if you don't mind the art that looks rushed.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's Will Eisner week, so it is graphic novel time!

I was intrigued by the premise of this story - nothing quite like a closed room murder in space! (Can there be any other kind?) We've heard the set up before: the super rich leave everyone else behind on the ruined Earth, go & live on their space station & play. And die!
This time, though, the focus is on a few of the working stiffs.
Honestly, the story is pretty juvenile/predictable, yet I enjoyed it. The art by Liana Kangas made it worth the read, just lovely.