Free Planet Volume 1

by Aubrey Sitterson, Jed Dougherty (Illustrator)

“FREE PLANET demands to be read in a comfy chair, next to a fire, or the window of a starship, while taking in a distant supernova." —Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible)
The epic worldbuilding of Dune meets the romance and drama of Saga in this complex, action-packed space opera about the first completely free planet in human history.
In the wake of a grueling war of independence, a team of revolutionary heroes is tasked with defending their home and its uniquely potent energy source from multiple intergalactic superpowers intent on domination. But though they are each deeply committed to the dream of a free planet, they all have completely different ideas about what complete freedom actually entails. Faced with separatist movements, counterrevolutionaries, political deadlock, famine, equipment shortages, a looming trade war, violent attacks and wildly divergent ideas of how to handle each, can true freedom endure?
Informed by real-world research and extensive design work, Aubrey Sitterson (The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling, No One Left to Fight) and Jed Dougherty (Savage Hearts, Worlds’ Finest) have created a comic that functions as both literature and art object, a rumination on freedom, the sacrifices it demands, the discipline it requires and the authority that must arise in its absence.
Collects Free Planet issues #1-6.

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels

152 pages, Paperback

Published December 9, 2025

About the author

Aubrey Sitterson is a freelance writer, whose most recent work, No One Left to Fight is currently available in local comic shops, digitally on Comixology, and through special collector’s packages. He’s also the writer of The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling, which is available everywhere, including local bookstores, comic shops, and online retailers like Amazon.

Aubrey has written comics for all of the industry’s top publishers – Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse IDW, Oni, Dynamite and Viz. He also wrote and performed the sword & sorcery serial podcast SKALD from April 2015 to April 2018, without missing a single week. A full list of credits can be found here.

Contact Aubrey at dropkickoutthejams at gmail dot com.

Reviews

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Free Planet" is a dense, complicated and challenging Space Opera that is likely to entrance fans who are attracted to complex world building scenarios and intricately constructed future societies. Focusing on the early heady days after the planet Lutheria's successful war for independence, this book take a hard look at the concepts of revolution and freedom while portraying a society that is rapidly transforming in uncertain directions.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Image Comics, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A throwback hard sci-fi book, heavily designed and micromanaged by its team, that packs as much detail into 22 pages as Larian Studios stuffs into 100+ hours of an RPG. As a kid, these were the books I wanted to read — by guys like Byrne, Claremont, Gruenwald, Chaykin, and other post-Kirby creators who loved to stuff their works with all kinds of useful text fitted to the page — primarily because they took longer to read (we are talking at least a minute a page with Free Planet, not counting the 2-page essays at the end) and gave me more bang for my 75 cents. Obviously not for everyone given how many people seem to like those nearly wordless widescreen modern offerings that can be “consumed” in 3-5 minutes, but I’ve read this twice (once in PDF, once in hard copy) and it’s the rare work that not only benefits (many such cases) but benefits significantly from the print format.

Here’s an interview I did with series author Aubrey Sitterson, where he talks about how he prepared for the plotting of the book by reading serious history books, researching older sci-fi works like artist Don Lawrence’s gloriously watercolored The Trigan Empire, and so on (basically anything that didn’t involve reading the latest popular books in the genres and developing a variation on them). Really interesting: https://open.substack.com/pub/oliverb...

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Free Planet Volume 1 is a comic that grabbed my attention right out of the gate with a genuinely cool idea and a premise that promises cosmic action. Aubrey Sitterson has built a world here that feels vast and full of interesting conflicts, you can tell there's a huge backstory bubbling underneath.

The art is definitely decent, too. It's clean, well-colored, and does a good job of realizing the various alien species and unique environments. It gives the book a slick look that initially makes you think you're in for a fast-paced sci-fi adventure.

Sadly, that's where the momentum stalls out. While the characters themselves are okay, they don't quite carry the weight of the story. The comic is constantly tripping over its own feet due to overly long conversations that completely kill the pacing. It feels like every action sequence is immediately followed by pages of dense dialogue that doesn't always flow naturally, leading to some pretty disjointed dialogue overall.

There are moments when the plot is genuinely engaging, but those stretches are frequently broken up by characters sitting around explaining things rather than, you know, doing things. It leaves the whole volume feeling like a lot of build-up with not enough satisfying payoff.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recent Reads: Free Planet Volume 1. Aubrey Sitterson’s graphic novel mixes narrative art and infographics to tell the story of the early days of a world that has rebelled against the status quo. But can its fractious new guardians come together in its hour of need? Political SF for anarchosocialists.

[Loki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very dense work, the science fiction of ideas: after the revolution, then what? Great stuff, can't wait to read more of it.

[Timothy Grubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to begin about a chronicle of galactic colonial independence?

Free Planet by Aubrey Sitterson is a tale of what happens after a revolution has succeeded…only for new myriad problems to surface…

Drawing upon a mix of philosophic, religious, sociological, and economic beliefs…Free Planet follows an elite group of invidious drawn from multiple factions, backgrounds, and skills…

What do revolutionaries do when they have to cooperate with a new civilian government they empowered and act within a rigid structure that seems doomed to fail?

There are a lot of characters and a lot of ongoing plot threads (within in with a lot of world building, the occasional flashback, and hints at secrets some of the main characters have). While note every character gets a chance to show off their many layers of personality, morivation, secrets, and long term goals…there’s a massive amount in each issue (almost overwhelming at times).

I appreciated all the work juggling so many threads and plots at the same time while the slow burn of a number of longer term story seedsconibues to grow…

I’m anxious to see how this Free Planet continues to go…and if it’s freedom will be as fragile as it main team’s discipline…

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the far future, a planet earns its independence. It's what comes next that's the hard part.

Part space opera, part philosophical treatise, part social commentary.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Free Planet is a thunderbolt to the mind. Aubrey and Jed bring an energy and sophistication to the comics page that I've been yearning for. This is comics at Full Power.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Free Planet written by Aubrey Sitterson with art by Jed Dougherty is nothing short of incredible. **added**I believe that some initial reviews were advanced digital copies, this book should be fully appreciated in print format to gain the entire experience that is FREE PLANET ! ** This team was clearly carefully curated to create one of the most captivating and compelling comics that’s hitting the shelves ANYWHERE right now. Everyone wishes they had the foresight to pick up the culture shifting titles across all mediums before they get huge. This is that opportunity. The entire team behind Free Planet is pushing the envelope of not only what comic books sound or look like, but also storytelling in general. I think some folks will be off-put or even scared of what can seem like a daunting story at times, but as the creator has said this book is meant to be reread, you can build on your thoughts and feelings about the world they are creating and find more information each read. It’s truly something that should be experienced with an open mind and a preparedness for top notch quality.

[Alex Sarll]

The story opens as the war of independence concludes and the mining planet 'Aides announces itself truly free, taking on the name Lutheria instead; it's never mentioned, but I can only assume that the extraneous apostrophe was one of the things they were rebelling against. So it's straight into the messy business of reconstruction, the competing factions who were only united by a shared hatred of the previous regime; the reality that any society must place some restrictions on individual liberties, and one freshly cut off from the interstellar economy even more so; the compromises with unsavoury and untrustworthy allies. This has the advantage that a period of revolutionary turmoil is one time when people absolutely will shout slogans at each other and speechify about ideological differences, which is handy, because I don't know Sitterson's other work (though I vaguely recall political controversy leading to the cancellation of a miniseries that integrated GI Joe and MASK, and if that sentence doesn't convince you this is the stupidest timeline, I don't know what will), but here at least he seems very big on that. There are also datacards, seemingly written by a future historian, which add to the feeling that you're getting your money's worth – this is not one of those modern comics which only take a couple of minutes per issue – but also to a sense of stodginess, because they seem to be by a historian who could really have used an editor, so there's lots of stuff like "As ever, even the most righteous conflicts become inevitably marred by the euphemistically described collateral damage." Put it this way: I recently read an actual history book about a revolution (Ruth Scurr's excellent Fatal Purity, apt since Lutheria borrows the French revolutionary calendar*), and I finished that with more sense of the players as people than I did this action-adventure comic, where they mostly go through fairly rote conflicts of the duty versus passion type. It probably doesn't help that, while Dougherty's art is great fun on stuff like diagrams of spaceships and mining settlements, and one dogfight in particular has an ingenious, vertiginous spiralling layout, the people can end up looking like escapees from the Christine Spar era of Grendel. And there's a general failure to fully convey the bigger picture; I was very rarely clear when we'd entered a flashback, and key details like the balance of power between the capitalist Alliance and the 40K knock-off Empire remained opaque. Fundamentally, I was reminded of two things: Deniz Camp's comics, so engaged with the big geopolitical issues, but so clumsy at expressing that as living, breathing drama; and Abnett and Winslade's Lawless, which has an incredibly similar bag of tricks to Free Planet, right down to the uncertain status of droids and the involvement of enigmatic aliens, but where you can never for a moment doubt the plausible humanity (or ape/alien/robot equivalent) of the protagonists and even of their foes.

*If you don't use this, and the ten-hour clock, you don't really use the metric system, so you don't get to complain about my sticking with Fahrenheit.

(Netgalley ARC)

[East of Reality · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel is … a lot. If you’re familiar with classic sci fi and Warhammer 40k, you’ll probably have an easier time as space marines and a mechanical religion, aliens who see time differently, chaotic civilian governments, space pirates, space stations, the rare and near magical orichaleum mineral that can do almost anything and is super-duper valuable, along with intelligent AI, cyborgs, evil corporations .and so much more are all tangled together in this volume.

And it is a tangle.

The main story is that of a planet that has broken free of the corporations that owned it through bloody resistance and now have to try to feed their people, lead their people and protect their people while holding onto the ideals and morals of heroes. They want to be the voice of the people while commanding them, to give everyone freedom while taking their land away for the good of the planet, to not be a military state while using their military to do everything, and have rested all of this on the shoulders of a dozen or so characters.

And these characters are given backstories, side stories, adventures and entanglements … and it’s a lot. You’re thrown into the deep end with no shore in sight and expected not just to swim, but to swim for miles and miles while holding on to fragile narrative threads that shift focus from one character to the next with no warning, and there are so many threads.

This volume is almost entirely world building with some scant moments for character growth as all the stress begins to fracture the careful alliances. And if that’s not what you’re into, stories of failure and flailing and people trying their best while realizing that the old systems that have held power did so for a reason … because they were convenient and effective even if they were neither good nor right; if you’re not into the grim reality that surviving a rebellion, winning one, doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods as you now have an entire planet to take care of — and more enemies than you can count.

I admire how much the author is trying to do, but I was a little overwhelmed with the constant info dumping. The artist does an amazing job of bringing the world to life, filled with bright colors and patterns to keep it from being grey and grim, and I think they managed the action very well. But the pace is frantic and I found myself having to take breaks just to keep from skimming. That said, there are ideas here that I did like, even if many of them are drawn from very familiar sources.

I think, for the right audience, this book will be a lot of fun. To find all the inspirations, all the easter eggs — so to speak — and I hope it finds that audience because I think it deserves it.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
A really enthralling consideration of what comes after a revolution, reminding me thematically of Dune Messiah and The Dispossessed, among other stories. A variety of broadly left-of-center ideologies are clashing here within a cast full of diverse motives and approaches to what gaining and keeping freedom means to them.

The presentation is likely to be divisive, written largely in a dry and verbose history textbook style overlaying a more bombastic 90s/early 00s action comic style. Much of the narration is very wordy and pitched at a high grade level (e.g. “desideratum” makes an appearance) but it totally fits the intended academic textbook framing of past events being depicted. The dialogue is filled with some dogmatic jargon, but also much more in-the-moment passion than the detached narration. Overall I loved its thoughtfully high-concept take on a variety of political theory ideas, but I can see it frustrating anyone who just wants it to get on with the story and cut the academic digressions.

“I’m ready for a civilized planet. Just call in an airstrike.”

“We knew this would be the challenge: forging a new whole out of disparate pieces.”

“What was I supposed to do?”
“You were supposed to keep fighting.”

“The romantic and prevailing view is that humanity is destined to wander, that something deep within us urges us into the unknown. But this is an overly charitable estimation of one of humanity’s most defining traits, for at the core of human expansion lies not a passion for exploration but, rather, a desire for luxury, leisure, and the wealth that makes both possible…Though the methods of conveyance continue to evolve, humanity’s dream has remained distressingly consistent.”

“I see rhetoric masquerading as logic.”

“Consensus is essential. But what if it’s impossible?”

“The desideratum of these disaffected factions—and the intended means of achieving them—were rarely in alignment, resulting in escalating contestation with not just the state but one another.”

“Knowing things and, even worse, knowing you know them is a curse. Only by not knowing do we learn! Knowing makes one clever, strident, domineering. The greatest damage is always done by those most certain.”

“As ever, even the most just, most righteous conflicts become inevitably marred by the euphemistically described collateral damage.”

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I normally LOVE Space Opera style stories. But this one did not manage to be a space opera and a comic and to be coherent. So much information is tossed at you constantly, it becomes overwhelming and then straight up tiring. By the second chapter, I felt like skipping half of the exposition boxes, and it was a struggle reading them all. The cast of characters is also so large that it's hard to get a bead on any of them. You learn key facts and some pieces, but nothing beyond the surface. Which is annoying because so many seem like they could be very interesting characters, but instead feel trope-ish to me. I vaguely understood the main plot, but there are also so many side plot lines, and I was getting confused. It's also hard to tell how much time is passing because it feels like it jumps around a bunch. The biggest strength of this comic is the art. It's actually a fairly unique art style, and blends classic American comic styles with some Japanese comic styles. If the plot could just be more fine-tuned or maybe some characters introduced later down the line, maybe it would be easier to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read via ebook.

This had an interesting premise but for me at least the execution wasn't good. I expected some possibly above average amount of info-dumping since it is trying to explore complicated topics, but it quickly became far too much and I don't think I am able to tell you any of it. It would have narrative boxes on almost every panel then at the end of every issue a few pages more of full prose. Either one would be more tolerable than both, but both together did make me question if a comic was the right medium choice for the story that the author wanted to tell.

This also has a lot of double-page spreads, which while not bad per say, makes it even more difficult to read digitally. The colours were nice and the art style was fine.

I did quite like the characters, some of them were quite interesting but because the amount of non-dialogue text boxes most of the time using past tense I felt oddly disconnected to them like as if they had already died and I'm just hearing about the events or battles they were in. Which I don't think is a very good feeling to have when reading a first volume wether that vibe was intentional or not.

[Terence James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free Planet Volume 1 has some solid ideas and a world that feels like it could be really interesting, with rebels, strange tech, and hints of hidden societies. There are moments where the stories catch your attention and make you want to know more. The problem is that most of them never fully develop. Just as a plot or character starts to get interesting, the story either ends or jumps ahead, leaving you feeling like you only got a taste of what could have been.

The art is a mixed bag. Some pages are vibrant and detailed, full of life and atmosphere, while others feel rushed or flat. That unevenness makes it hard to stay fully engaged, which is frustrating when the strong panels show just how good this could look.

It’s a frustrating read because you can see the potential behind the writing and the art, but it doesn’t come together here. The volume feels more like a rough draft than a finished story. Not bad, but definitely disappointing, and it leaves you hoping the next volume delivers more of what this one promises.

Thanks to NetGalley and Image for the advance copy.

[Jay Dubs · Rating 2 out of 5]

A big lore dump over a volume in length.

Free planet is the story of a planet rich in resources that, before Issue one begins, has fought off those massive subjugators, who would seek to colonise them. This new planet seeks to be completely free.

To help implement this freedom, a special team is tasked with being the peacekeepers. This team, formed of individuals from the various regions, sects and elsewise from across the planet are the main protagonists of our story. And throughout the first 6 issues of Free Planet, they find out that implementing freedom is much easier said than done.

It’s clear Free Planet has a lot it wants to say. But the massive obstacle in its way is explaining the ins and outs of this planet, its history and the galaxy that surrounds it. Across the first volume there is more text dedicated to notation than conversation. All six issues suffer deeply from an inability to show not tell.

I had hoped that this might be capped at the end of volume 1. The table setting for the rest of the story to flow. But a quick look at issue 7 showed that notation was rife over the opening pages. I closed it.

Given the amount of ink dedicated to giving history lessons about the world, you’ll be unsurprised to find out that the character building suffers. Each character has tiny arcs, but I’d be surprised if most readers feel close to or drawn to any of them. We get peeks into their nature and their history, but most decisions are or relationships are based on the broadest of strokes.

Readers interested in world building may find elements to enjoy here, from the tactics used by different factions to the political maneuvering by some of the characters, but the slow build of the ins and outs leaves much more to be desired in all other aspects of the story.

[Thomas Kiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free Planet is about a planet declaring independence and the various political and personal issues that flow from the aftermath of a revolution. Aubrey Sitterson has designed a huge world to play around in and Jed Dougherty has done a great job bringing it to life. I just could not fully engage with Free Planet. You can see all of the details and creative concepts, but it often felt like just showing me cool stuff without doing anything with it. Awesome concepts and plotlines are established and then who knows when they return (probably future issues, but so much is unresolved at the end of this first volume). Its a dense book and for those who love that kind of science fiction, this is the comic for them. The design and layouts are great, and it would be incredibly easy to make other stories in this same sandbox.

Thank you to Image Comics and NetGalley for a copy of Free Planet in exchange for an honest review.

[Chris Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

S/O and TY to Netgalley and the publisher for the epub of the first volume of this Graphic novel.

Right off the bat I love the art style so much for this book. It really evokes that 80s comic book iconic style.

There’s a ton of info dumping in the first few pages that it seems like I missed out on a story prior to this one even though this is Volume 1. I don’t love when a whole group of characters is introduced all at once; it makes for a confusing start as I’m being told who they are instead of showing me who they are. There is a lot of telling going on ironically as this medium is way better for showing with art.

There were some really fun formatting choices while reading that I won’t say too much about as it’ll ruin the novelty of it.

I’d recommend this for readers who like Space Operas, Military stories, and Sci-fi.

3.25/5 stars.

[Tasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75 ⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Image Comics for a copy in exchange for an honest review.
I went in really expecting to like this but ultimately it did not work for me. I loved the art style and was intrigued by the story premise. I also really enjoyed this one part that had a unique formatting choice. It was a little difficult to read on my computer so I think it works a lot better if you have the pysical copy. But this story suffered from a lot of telling than showing. We are introduced to a lot of characters and are just told who they are. It was confusing to keep track of all of them and I didn't feel a connection to any of them. The constant info dumping world building and lengthy drawn out conversations between characters just killed any momentum the plot had.

[Adri Holt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of information was packed into a little space in this engaging space saga! A group called The Freedom Guard are gathered to protect Lutheria in its newly established freedom. This causes the neighboring planet to worry that Lutheria will corrupt it, with its radical thinking. Freedom isn’t an easy path and it does not come without its struggles.
To be honest, I think it would be more digestible in actual print form. Reading it on a tiny screen is just not doable, especially when the scenes start going sideways and upside down.

#ThxNetGalley #AubreySitterson #FreePlanetVolume1

[Trike · Rating 1 out of 5]

This tries to be both a story and a worldbuilding treatise but succeeds at neither. It would have been marginally better if it had focused on one or the other; as it stands, it’s neither fish nor fowl.

The worldbuilding bits intrude on the story inelegantly, and the putative story about an anarchic planet doesn’t land its thesis.

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barely a 2

Terrible read made worse by pages that at times go sideways and upside down.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARC from Netgalley.

A gobbledygook pick and mix of science fiction tropes.

[Jacob Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐'s

[Theediscerning · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear. Far too wordy a comic, that might make sense given about three prequels. Not for me at all.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would like to thank Image Comics and Netgalley for a free eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I desperately wanted to like this, but it is just a bit of a mess. It starts with a wall of exposition that feels totally undigestible and unearned. And then it devolves into a hodge-podge of ideas that never coalesces into a fully-fledged out story. The exposition is honestly egregious as a comic book has more of an imperative to show-not-tell than any other book and yet, this comic was determined to tell-not-show. I can see it being for somebody though, so If you are into overly-wroght sci-fi this might be for you.

This volume includes issue 1-6 Colors: Vittorio Astone Letters: Taylor Exposito
#1 20 pages
#2 20 pages
#3 20 pages
#4 20 pages
#5 20 pages
#6 20 pages