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The Fuse (Single issues) #1
The Fuse #1
"THE RUSSIA SHIFT," Part One
Working homicide 22,000 miles up on an orbiting energy platform, in a five-mile-long jury-rigged steel city stuffed with a half million people, with no help from your so-called colleagues back on Earth, is more than tough...it's murder!
Cynical, foul-mouthed veteran ANTONY JOHNSTON (UMBRAL, Wasteland, Daredevil) gets partnered with fresh-faced idealist JUSTIN GREENWOOD (Wasteland, Resurrection) for a new crime series with attitude! Murder, mayhem, and mystery-22,000 miles straight up
Working homicide 22,000 miles up on an orbiting energy platform, in a five-mile-long jury-rigged steel city stuffed with a half million people, with no help from your so-called colleagues back on Earth, is more than tough...it's murder!
Cynical, foul-mouthed veteran ANTONY JOHNSTON (UMBRAL, Wasteland, Daredevil) gets partnered with fresh-faced idealist JUSTIN GREENWOOD (Wasteland, Resurrection) for a new crime series with attitude! Murder, mayhem, and mystery-22,000 miles straight up
30 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 12, 2014
2 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Antony Johnston
340 books394 followers** Sign up for Antony's newsletter at http://ajwriter.substack.com **
Antony Johnston is a multi-award-winning author, a New York Times bestseller, and one of the most versatile writers of the modern era.
The Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde was based on his graphic novel. His murder mystery series The Dog Sitter Detective won the Barker Book Award. His crime puzzle novel Can You Solve the Murder? reinvented choose-your-own-story books for a mainstream audience and was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. And his productivity guide The Organised Writer has helped authors all over the world take control of their workload.
Antony is a celebrated videogames writer, with genre-defining titles including Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor, and Resident Evil Village to his credit. His work on Silent Hill Ascension made him the only writer in the world to have contributed to all of gaming’s ‘big three’ horror franchises.
His immense body of work also includes Marvel superheroes such as Daredevil and Shang-Chi, the award-winning Alex Rider graphic novels, the post-apocalypse epic Wasteland, and more. He wrote and directed the film Crossover Point, made entirely in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.
An experienced podcaster and public speaker, he also frequently writes articles on the life of an author, and is a prolific musician.
Antony is a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, a member of International Thriller Writers and the Society of Authors, a Shore Scripts screenwriting judge, and sits on the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s videogames committee. He lives and works in England.
Antony Johnston is a multi-award-winning author, a New York Times bestseller, and one of the most versatile writers of the modern era.
The Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde was based on his graphic novel. His murder mystery series The Dog Sitter Detective won the Barker Book Award. His crime puzzle novel Can You Solve the Murder? reinvented choose-your-own-story books for a mainstream audience and was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. And his productivity guide The Organised Writer has helped authors all over the world take control of their workload.
Antony is a celebrated videogames writer, with genre-defining titles including Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor, and Resident Evil Village to his credit. His work on Silent Hill Ascension made him the only writer in the world to have contributed to all of gaming’s ‘big three’ horror franchises.
His immense body of work also includes Marvel superheroes such as Daredevil and Shang-Chi, the award-winning Alex Rider graphic novels, the post-apocalypse epic Wasteland, and more. He wrote and directed the film Crossover Point, made entirely in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.
An experienced podcaster and public speaker, he also frequently writes articles on the life of an author, and is a prolific musician.
Antony is a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, a member of International Thriller Writers and the Society of Authors, a Shore Scripts screenwriting judge, and sits on the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s videogames committee. He lives and works in England.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 10, 2014
I love cop shows; television staples such CSI and its ilk, Castle, et al. So it is no surprise that I enjoyed this new Image title by Johnston and Greenwood and gave it four stars.
There's a lot more to it than being a cop show. It's set in space station in geostationary orbit to Earth, so it has more than a foot in sci-fi, another of my genre favorites. I also like it the writer moved away from naming an American lead and gave us a German and a Russian odd couple.
I could see myself gobbling more issues of this book. It has an American flavor but could have an international appeal. I certainly like it and I'm not American.
There's a lot more to it than being a cop show. It's set in space station in geostationary orbit to Earth, so it has more than a foot in sci-fi, another of my genre favorites. I also like it the writer moved away from naming an American lead and gave us a German and a Russian odd couple.
I could see myself gobbling more issues of this book. It has an American flavor but could have an international appeal. I certainly like it and I'm not American.
August 28, 2016
Interesting start to what might be a good series to delve into soon.
September 16, 2014
Antony Johnston and Justin Greenwood's THE FUSE volume 1 is a sharp and twisted hardboiled-detective-cum-science-fiction thriller. It's the homicide beat on an orbiting space platform, home to half a million people, with all the class divisions and corrupt politics you might have thought were better left behind on Earth. The cast is fully multicultural, but this is no post-racism paradise: everybody remembers the racism, and past riots, that have informed this society on every level. Johnston's writing is sharp, Greenwood's illustrations are sharply etched and dramatic, and the colors (by Shari Chankhamma) are nicely lurid (oversaturated in a really downer, almost bad-trip sort of way). The overall message is that you can't escape and you can't win, and accelerationist technology will not get us out of our current social mess.
June 21, 2017
This one really got me hooked, so badly I am already looking up it's series. lol.
August 22, 2017
A nifty whodunnit with great characters and a setting that's out of this world XD
March 27, 2019
Teaser for an outer space ,buddy cop series.
The space station is a city in space. A salt and pepper team of cops are investigating a set of murders of the cities poor. Looks good.
The space station is a city in space. A salt and pepper team of cops are investigating a set of murders of the cities poor. Looks good.
January 26, 2024
Engaging detective drama on a space station. Deep backstory, great character portrayals. ****
#1 – “Let me through, I am a police officer. What happened here?” – Deitrich
#1 – “Let me through, I am a police officer. What happened here?” – Deitrich
March 21, 2020
A bit rough and underdeveloped visually (if it’s trying to build a believable reality), but it kept my interest. Detective crime meets SPACE. I will buy issue 2 if I find it someday.
September 14, 2014
Fans of police procedurals, mysteries, and graphic novels will all be able to enjoy this new series. Set on an orbiting energy platform, the story follows newly arrived detective Ralph Dietrich and his partner/superior officer Sgt. Klem Ristovych as they try to solve a pair of baffling homicides. Many of us know that the first day on a new job can be rough, but try having a murder victim drop dead right in front of you before you have even made it out of the shuttle port. Dietrich starts his first shift without any warm-up time as they begin the investigation into the death of a homeless woman, only to find a second victim on the steps of City Hall. Surveillance video is scarce, venturing into the warrens inside the hatches and access ways that the homeless "cablers" inhabit is risky, and City Hall is stonewalling their questioning - not exactly an ideal atmosphere to find answers.
If you enjoyed the irascible medical officer in Sean Connery's movie "Outland," then you'll probably feel the same way about Ristovych. Her supervisor says he expects Klem to retire when they push her out an airlock. Dietrich is more of the fresh-faced and earnest rookie type, even though he is already an experienced homicide detective on Earth before he transfers to the Fuse. His back story is left for us to discover in later volumes, although we do find out that Klem has been around since the orbital platform was under construction; she's one of the FGU - first guys up - in Fuse slang.
Interesting characters, a twisty plot for them to unravel, and a cool setting all make this a book to kickback and lose yourself in.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
If you enjoyed the irascible medical officer in Sean Connery's movie "Outland," then you'll probably feel the same way about Ristovych. Her supervisor says he expects Klem to retire when they push her out an airlock. Dietrich is more of the fresh-faced and earnest rookie type, even though he is already an experienced homicide detective on Earth before he transfers to the Fuse. His back story is left for us to discover in later volumes, although we do find out that Klem has been around since the orbital platform was under construction; she's one of the FGU - first guys up - in Fuse slang.
Interesting characters, a twisty plot for them to unravel, and a cool setting all make this a book to kickback and lose yourself in.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
November 6, 2014
It started out a bit slow, and I didn't expect to like this one nearly as much as I did. The character introduction is smooth, but a few of the characters look very similar and (in the digital format forced upon me by NetGalley) it's hard to do any kind of flipping back and forth that would allow me to figure it out more quickly. I was able to gather and continue, and though this would be helped by reading it in print it also speaks to needing a bit more detail, or a hint or two more definition between a few characters.
Once the piece started coming together and I became more intrigued by the turn of events, I began to really enjoy it. The twist isn't entirely unpredictable, though makes for a good story regardless. It feels indie in a good way, like a throwback to traditional suspense almost in the vein of a Law & Order/CSI-type storyline but through a different, more thoroughly enjoyable, format. Match that with futuristic space and a gritty, determined pair of detectives you quickly grow to love, and you've got a good piece of work here. I'll definitely pick up the next installment.
Once the piece started coming together and I became more intrigued by the turn of events, I began to really enjoy it. The twist isn't entirely unpredictable, though makes for a good story regardless. It feels indie in a good way, like a throwback to traditional suspense almost in the vein of a Law & Order/CSI-type storyline but through a different, more thoroughly enjoyable, format. Match that with futuristic space and a gritty, determined pair of detectives you quickly grow to love, and you've got a good piece of work here. I'll definitely pick up the next installment.
November 26, 2014
Detective story/police procedural set on The Fuse, a space station that was originally supposed to just be a power station but which has developed over decades to be a giant city in space, complete with social levels, neighborhoods, politicians, police, schools, and homeless citizens. An experienced police officer with an excellent record volunteers to transfer up to the Fuse, which causes question from his new, experienced partner who is used to forced transfers of trouble-makers. But before long they are caught up in the murders of two homeless people, a man and a woman, happening on the same day with the same method of death, but not near each other, and the investigation embroils them in local politics. References to race riots let readers know that racial tensions still exist, although possibly lessons have been learned. A decent mystery, some intrigue around the backgrounds of the police characters, and a teaser of an ending to let you know there is more to the story of the new detective's transfer.
Good for older teens and adults who like a myster with a bit of thriller. I'll seek out future trade editions to find out more of the story.
Good for older teens and adults who like a myster with a bit of thriller. I'll seek out future trade editions to find out more of the story.
October 1, 2015
This first volume of a series is sort of a police procedural in space. An African-German detective joins the police force of a space station, and finds himself investigating a strange double murder.
The story itself becomes twisted, and the murder story is better than the science fictional story which surrounds it. For instance, I had a bit of trouble believing it was so easy for the "cablers" to hide in a space station only five miles across, and there are so many problems with the anti-synchronous orbit described, given the purpose of the station, that it was distracting.
Still, the murder mystery and political intrigue were first-rate, and I would probably pick up the second volume to see if the quality continues.
The story itself becomes twisted, and the murder story is better than the science fictional story which surrounds it. For instance, I had a bit of trouble believing it was so easy for the "cablers" to hide in a space station only five miles across, and there are so many problems with the anti-synchronous orbit described, given the purpose of the station, that it was distracting.
Still, the murder mystery and political intrigue were first-rate, and I would probably pick up the second volume to see if the quality continues.
June 11, 2015
This first issue just really doesn't do anything for me. I like that one of the main characters is an elderly woman who's capable and tough, with a no bullshit attitude. That's who my one star is for. The rest - the cablers turning up dead from gunshot wounds - you'd think I'd be interested in as well, but I honestly couldn't care less.
It's in part because of the artwork. I don't like it at all. The lines are wobbly in weird places and everything just looks ugly to me.
I had to push myself through this, and it's only a single issue. I'm definitely not going to read more.
It's in part because of the artwork. I don't like it at all. The lines are wobbly in weird places and everything just looks ugly to me.
I had to push myself through this, and it's only a single issue. I'm definitely not going to read more.
January 15, 2015
I enjoyed the story. I only wish that the characters had gotten more background story. Johnston has definitely set himself up for good things in the future. I'm interested to see where he goes with the cabelers, especially with the way things ended.
I received a copy of The Fuse as an eARC courtesy of Netgalley for a fair and honest review.
I received a copy of The Fuse as an eARC courtesy of Netgalley for a fair and honest review.
September 8, 2015
I got a chance to read FUSE Vol 2 as an arc loved it
so much so that I went & bought Vol 1
A brilliant Sci Fi / Crime/Noir
set on the Midway power station in
retrograde geostationary orbit
(always facing the sun)
This book should not work it's a mash up of
old cliches
space cops ; new cop / old cop ; black cop / white cop
but damn it's clever
exciting
and so much fun
so much so that I went & bought Vol 1
A brilliant Sci Fi / Crime/Noir
set on the Midway power station in
retrograde geostationary orbit
(always facing the sun)
This book should not work it's a mash up of
old cliches
space cops ; new cop / old cop ; black cop / white cop
but damn it's clever
exciting
and so much fun
October 5, 2015
I'm a fan of comics with a strong female lead - especially one who doesn't have to depend on her youth or beauty to make it. Klem is great. I really liked the dynamic with her younger, new partner.
I enjoyed the story, but the artwork was a little too rough for me. At times it was hard for me to tell the characters apart, which made this a confusing read at times.
I enjoyed the story, but the artwork was a little too rough for me. At times it was hard for me to tell the characters apart, which made this a confusing read at times.
January 13, 2015
Nice, but the dialogues felt a bit too snappy and sharp. In fact, it revolves mostly around those dialogues, and less on the graphics.
Mind you, this is a comic. Not a book.
Still, it made me curious to the next parts, which I'm definitely going to read.
Mind you, this is a comic. Not a book.
Still, it made me curious to the next parts, which I'm definitely going to read.
March 12, 2014
I got this due to a recommendation from a WIRED post, but it just didn't do it for me.
December 29, 2014
Reminiscent of Alan Moore's Top 10, this is a compelling, sociologically aware sci-fi take on the procedural cop show. Neat.
February 9, 2015
I really enjoyed this sci-fi cop story. The art was engaging and crisp and captured the feel of the story and the mystery was engaging. I will definitely seek this one out as it continues.
March 29, 2015
A nice introduction to what could be a cool sci-fi detective series.
January 8, 2016
The are is questionable, but the story is intriguing.
December 29, 2015
decent intro, like the premise. I'm not really into cop stories most of the time, and probably won't pursue it further.
January 12, 2016
A police procedural set on a space station. A solid read.
April 4, 2016
Fun. I'm in.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews