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Ocean/Orbiter
Two of Warren Ellis' acclaimed science fiction stories are collected here in Deluxe format with additional sketch and script pages!
Lying beneath Europa's (Jupiter's moon) half-mile-thick mantle of shear ice is the only ocean in the solar system besides those on Earth. And within those cold waters could rest the key to life on Earth -- and quite possibly its extinction!
It's the job of U.N. weapons inspector Nathan Kane to learn what sort of beings lie under the icy dome. But he's about to encounter resistance of the violent kind from the staff manning Earth's outpost on Europa -- and he'll like what happens even less when the long-slumbering aliens begin to awaken!
In Orbiter, a space shuttle crash lands on Earth after being missing for a decade, it unlocks a mystery that will unfold deep in outer space. Can a team of three specialists cheated out of their dream of spaceflight discover the nature of this bizarre space-borne anomaly?
Lying beneath Europa's (Jupiter's moon) half-mile-thick mantle of shear ice is the only ocean in the solar system besides those on Earth. And within those cold waters could rest the key to life on Earth -- and quite possibly its extinction!
It's the job of U.N. weapons inspector Nathan Kane to learn what sort of beings lie under the icy dome. But he's about to encounter resistance of the violent kind from the staff manning Earth's outpost on Europa -- and he'll like what happens even less when the long-slumbering aliens begin to awaken!
In Orbiter, a space shuttle crash lands on Earth after being missing for a decade, it unlocks a mystery that will unfold deep in outer space. Can a team of three specialists cheated out of their dream of spaceflight discover the nature of this bizarre space-borne anomaly?
265 pages, Hardcover
First published March 24, 2015
9 people are currently reading
201 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,972 books5,763 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
June 21, 2015
Two fine works of science fiction. Despite being collected together, they don't seem to be connected at all, or all that similar. I'd read Orbiter when it was first published, and absolutely loved it, but had missed the chance to read Ocean. Which is a shame, because I think it's possibly the better of the two.
June 21, 2020
Combines two separate SF stories into one volume. "Ocean" starts interesting with a first-contact situation, but devolves into nothing but gun fights and physical fights. "Orbiter" is more interesting. A space shuttle mysteriously disappears, but reappears years later, covered in alien skin and soil from Mars. Where has it been? And what happened to the crew?
April 7, 2019
Orbiter was amazing, but I felt like Ocean was bogged down with too many tropes.
July 21, 2018
I love space, and I am just getting into graphic novels so I really loved having the two combined into these stories. I’ve learned that the dark stories and illustrations of these stories aren’t my favorite for the graphic novel format, but I still enjoyed them. I liked Orbiter more because of the frenzied excitement of the exploration of the unknown. Ocean had exploration in it, but there was a lot more fear and apprehension. All the scientists working in Orbiter had their misgivings but ultimately it gave way to the drive to figure out exactly what had happened to this returned vessel. It was infectious and I loved it.
February 22, 2018
Well, after reading it, I realized it had tremendous impact on me. I remembered the stories as a real good thriller I have seen as a film. Post-cyberpunk ideas mixed with mythological space opera action.
August 17, 2015
a great duo of science fiction stories
January 9, 2016
Sprawling incoherent mess
January 7, 2026
Ocean/Orbiter is a collection of two unrelated space stories by the great Warren Ellis.
Ocean is fun, but not quite high comic literature. It’s the near future. Humans are exploring Jupiter’s moon Europa and discover coffins containing humanoid beings under the frozen ocean. THAT is an interesting premise . . . but then it devolves into a whole thing about guns in space.
Orbiter is a bit more interesting. After disappearing on the dark side of the moon for ten years, a space shuttle returns from space. One crew member has managed to survive aboard the shuttle for ten years with the help of a fleshy alien organism. It’s part psychological mystery and part scientific investigation as NASA attempts to discover what actually happened.
The stories are clearly a love letter to the space program. They’re both fun, but not exactly memorable. I expected more from Ellis. Likewise, the art is slick and colorful . . . but I tend to like grittier art work myself.
Ocean is fun, but not quite high comic literature. It’s the near future. Humans are exploring Jupiter’s moon Europa and discover coffins containing humanoid beings under the frozen ocean. THAT is an interesting premise . . . but then it devolves into a whole thing about guns in space.
Orbiter is a bit more interesting. After disappearing on the dark side of the moon for ten years, a space shuttle returns from space. One crew member has managed to survive aboard the shuttle for ten years with the help of a fleshy alien organism. It’s part psychological mystery and part scientific investigation as NASA attempts to discover what actually happened.
The stories are clearly a love letter to the space program. They’re both fun, but not exactly memorable. I expected more from Ellis. Likewise, the art is slick and colorful . . . but I tend to like grittier art work myself.
January 14, 2020
Disappointing because I've liked other Warren Ellis stories he's written. Maybe his writing just doesn't hold up from when I originally read his stuff in the '90s? Or maybe it's me that's changed. Anyway, neither story really impressed me. I did appreciate how Orbiter captured a certain zeigeist after the Columbia disaster and the Space Shuttle program was grounded, however. Overall, I also didn't care for the artwork in either story very much. Although individual panels depicting spaceships and astronomical bodies were beautiful, both artists struggled with their depictions of humans and conveying action.
October 28, 2017
Great original stories on the theme of space travel. "Ocean" was a great tale, and included a lot of surprises, but all very logically and coherently presented. Would make a great basis for a prose novel. "Orbiter" was also very original and well-written, but seemed to end a bit abruptly (although that might have been intentional). I still enjoyed it very much but would like to see a sequel! This story (plus any sequel) would also make a great novel. The art was very much suited to the stories and did much to make the whole experience enjoyable. Kudos to the writer and artist(s).
July 28, 2020
So this trade collects two unrelated stories written by Warren Ellis. The first one (Ocean) was awful. I felt like it was one of the most paper thin plots I’ve read in a while. It left much to be desired. I still think the setting for it was cool but the story was very forgettable.
As for the second story (Orbiter) that one was quite intriguing. I still think the method of having a bunch of characters info dump the narrative wasn’t great but it was a terrifically creative story, i think it could’ve worked better as a novel though.
As for the second story (Orbiter) that one was quite intriguing. I still think the method of having a bunch of characters info dump the narrative wasn’t great but it was a terrifically creative story, i think it could’ve worked better as a novel though.
June 5, 2019
Twofer love letter to manned space flight from Warren Ellis, who demonstrates that he's not cynical about absolutely everything. Ocean (UN weapons inspector deals with the discovery of a dormant alien presence on Europa) is fun, Orbiter (a decade after the last shuttle mission is lost in orbit, it returns bearing evidence of extraterrestrial interference) is heartfelt, both are worth your time.
June 10, 2020
Two great sci-fi stories that work great together. Ocean is about cherishing what makes us human in the face of scientific advances, peppered with lots of action. Orbiter is about taking the next step into our future, breaking away from our limitations, framed as a procedural.
The art is great in both, and my only complaint is that they are too short.
Recommended!
The art is great in both, and my only complaint is that they are too short.
Recommended!
March 27, 2025
Ellis has a long history of books that fall under "interesting ideas with short follow-through". This includes Black Summer, Ocean, No Hero, Blackgas, and a few others. After the wild onset, the only other thing that gets added is some grumpy british ex-soldier calling people cunts right before he blows holes in their skull. Which is fine, as long as you're into that.
April 17, 2020
That 5 is for ocean.
Ocean is the star of this brilliant two part graphic novel. Orbiter is ok, but ends flat. Ocean, about a discovery on Europa, is good enough to be part of global frequency or planetary.
Ocean is the star of this brilliant two part graphic novel. Orbiter is ok, but ends flat. Ocean, about a discovery on Europa, is good enough to be part of global frequency or planetary.
April 27, 2022
Two interesting science fiction stories- lots of great futuristic tech design (tic tac anyone…) neither story is great- and Ellis writes a few awkward or downright weird characters that seem out of place in the story.
May 10, 2017
Excellent pair of hard sci-fi tales from Warren Ellis, in a more optimistic vein than usual. It seems space exploration inspires him towards warmth and idealism.
August 20, 2017
I enjoyed this pair of hard sci fi tales by Warren Ellis.
January 30, 2018
Great story- one dark, one light. A lot of fun to read. Warren Ellis never disappoints.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2018
Maybe 4.5
June 21, 2019
Ocean ☆☆☆
Orbiter ☆☆☆
Orbiter ☆☆☆
December 23, 2019
Both stories were an enjoyable read, but had kind of simplistic plots - but that might have been due to the limitations of the media.
February 3, 2020
Ellis es garantía de una buena historia, siempre.
November 19, 2020
Great stories.
Beautiful art.
Beautiful art.
December 18, 2020
Nah
Slow read that drags onward at crawl both stories felt like page filler rather than actual story yet the art was good but what a waste of a purchase.
Slow read that drags onward at crawl both stories felt like page filler rather than actual story yet the art was good but what a waste of a purchase.
January 4, 2021
Hard pass. Warren Ellis is a predator. Fuck him.
September 6, 2021
The 4 stars was for orbiter. Lovely art and interesting plot. Quick and keeps you on the edge.
Ocean however is just silly gunfights with some morons. 1 star.
Ocean however is just silly gunfights with some morons. 1 star.
May 22, 2025
3.25 for both
December 30, 2016
My only complaint is that it was over too fast. Would make great movies.
May 4, 2016
OMG.
So the first story, Ocean, was everything. I mean, yeah it wasn't perfect, but it was exactly what I wanted to read in a comic. It was like Mass Effect and 2001 and BSG and ugh. And on top of that it's Lovecraftian too. So, written for me basically.
Years and years in the future, a UN weapons inspector is sent to investigate a creepy discovery on Europa that scientists, who've been studying the moon for a few years now without many results, just found. Bam. And there you have why I fucking loved this story. Also, yes, I said UN weapons inspector.
I thought the whole part about people literally renting out their bodies to a tech company called Doors (lol) to be implanted with AI so they could earn some money was creepy and clever and wonderful and I loved it.
And I loved loved loved, a billion times loved, loved dot com, fucking loved what the discovery ends up being and why it's important to humanity and oh so perfect.
I want this comic. Need it. No. What I really need is space. The thought of me dying without ever leaving Earth kills my soul and heart and if only people knew how full my head is with thoughts of space while I carry out simply daily human functions to exist in this society...they'd probably think I was crazy.
Second story, Orbiter, started off pretty compelling, but the ending felt rushed and ill thought-out and kinda unrealistic, even in a science fiction story. So what happens is that in the future a spacecraft named Venture *bloop* goes missing. After that humanity freaks the fuck out and stops the space program. Then, ten years later, *bloop* Venture reappears and lands back on Earth. Only one of the ten astronauts is on board and he's described as "being insane". See, compelling as fuck, right?
Wrong.
There wasn't any meat of the story, like there was with the first one. What I mean by that the conflict was left practically untouched and then it just ends. The crazy dude ends up not being that crazy, I guess? Just...learned (pronounced how Shakespeare would say that shit: learn-ed). There's no explanation as to how the fuck the spaceship did this other than--shit you not--aliens. ALIENS, GUYS, ALIENS. And I mean, look, I love aliens. I want to believe, man. But as an explanation? As a deus ex machina? As the fucking ENDING OF A STORY I WAS INVESTED IN??? WHY? It feels like a cop out, and I, as a reader, feel totally let down.
That said, this comic was amazing because it's exactly the things that I've been looking for and I hope this guy creates more like it because I will read them all.
If you did read this and know of them, please recommend me more space comics like this because I WANT.
So the first story, Ocean, was everything. I mean, yeah it wasn't perfect, but it was exactly what I wanted to read in a comic. It was like Mass Effect and 2001 and BSG and ugh. And on top of that it's Lovecraftian too. So, written for me basically.
Years and years in the future, a UN weapons inspector is sent to investigate a creepy discovery on Europa that scientists, who've been studying the moon for a few years now without many results, just found. Bam. And there you have why I fucking loved this story. Also, yes, I said UN weapons inspector.
I thought the whole part about people literally renting out their bodies to a tech company called Doors (lol) to be implanted with AI so they could earn some money was creepy and clever and wonderful and I loved it.
And I loved loved loved, a billion times loved, loved dot com, fucking loved what the discovery ends up being and why it's important to humanity and oh so perfect.
I want this comic. Need it. No. What I really need is space. The thought of me dying without ever leaving Earth kills my soul and heart and if only people knew how full my head is with thoughts of space while I carry out simply daily human functions to exist in this society...they'd probably think I was crazy.
Second story, Orbiter, started off pretty compelling, but the ending felt rushed and ill thought-out and kinda unrealistic, even in a science fiction story. So what happens is that in the future a spacecraft named Venture *bloop* goes missing. After that humanity freaks the fuck out and stops the space program. Then, ten years later, *bloop* Venture reappears and lands back on Earth. Only one of the ten astronauts is on board and he's described as "being insane". See, compelling as fuck, right?
Wrong.
There wasn't any meat of the story, like there was with the first one. What I mean by that the conflict was left practically untouched and then it just ends. The crazy dude ends up not being that crazy, I guess? Just...learned (pronounced how Shakespeare would say that shit: learn-ed). There's no explanation as to how the fuck the spaceship did this other than--shit you not--aliens. ALIENS, GUYS, ALIENS. And I mean, look, I love aliens. I want to believe, man. But as an explanation? As a deus ex machina? As the fucking ENDING OF A STORY I WAS INVESTED IN??? WHY? It feels like a cop out, and I, as a reader, feel totally let down.
That said, this comic was amazing because it's exactly the things that I've been looking for and I hope this guy creates more like it because I will read them all.
If you did read this and know of them, please recommend me more space comics like this because I WANT.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews