The Star Soldier

Kloud 9 #1

by A.J. O. Mason, Dominic Bustamante, Leonardo Ito (Colorist)

Kal and Cosmo are teen boys in love. It should be simple—except that Cosmo’s an alien deserter on the run from an intergalactic peacekeeping force!

In this YA sci-fi original graphic novel, teenager Kal is an Earthling without much purpose in life. Cosmot’urr Col Al’neyr, or Cosmo for short, is an alien struggling to find his place in the galaxy. Sparks fly when the two meet—but when Cosmo’s past catches up with him, Kal is forced to make a choice: remain on Earth or follow his crush into the great unknown. Easy choice, right? Now they just have to navigate the dangers of outer space, a megalomaniac pseudoparent, and their growing feelings for each other. Yeah. It’s complicated. Kloud 9 begins as a slice-of-life love story with fish-out-of-water humor before expanding into full-on space opera, packing every page with thrilling action and charming romance.

Genres: Graphic Novels, LGBT, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Graphic Novels Comics

272 pages, Paperback

Expected publication July 7, 2026

About the author

AJ O. Mason is a Jewish comic book writer. His work includes the upcoming YA graphic novel trilogy with Top Shelf Productions, Kloud 9, the crime miniseries, Headcases, and an all-ages spooky graphic novel series for Team Wang Design called Under the Castle. In addition, his short comics have appeared in numerous anthologies such as What Fresh Hell Is This? (Red Stylo Media) and Big Hype (Jumpstart Comics).

Reviews

[Justyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘She-Ra and the Princesses of Power’ meets ‘Heartstopper’ in this sci-fi graphic novel.

When Kal meets Cosmo there’s an instant connection but throw in some inaccessible power, an obsessive mentor and complicated feelings and things get a whole lot trickier.

This graphic novel was extremely cozy and such an easy read. The art style was beautifully detailed and the story was sweet and light. The perfect escape into space.

Thank you to Netgalley, IDW Publishing and Top Shelf Productions for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Emiliano Raspino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved reading this graphic novel; it's so visually pleasing, and the use of the color palette is spectacular.
I loved the overall design, and the artwork is flawless.
The protagonists are so sweet in their teenage romance and have great chemistry.
My only criticism is that the pacing is a bit fast, at least at the beginning. I would have liked them to spend more time on Earth and for Cosmo to have a proper arc there, since we saw him as a collage of images, and it could have been explored in more depth. We could have seen him learn and his relationship with Kal grow to the point where he chooses to leave Earth to be with Cosmo. Aside from that, I absolutely loved this queer-coded story
thank you so much to the authors and Netgalley for the arc

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a typical boy meets boy, boy loses boy, boy rescues boy sort of graphic novel. Except one is human and one is a star soldier. And the star soldier’s foster mother is insane, but other than that, typical story.

Kai has been in foster care forever, and is tired of it. He meets Cosmo, but doesn’t realize that he is both an alien and is on the run from his foster mother.

The art is great, and once they both leave Earth, together, the story gets wilder, with weapons dealers, and other stolen children.

Great fun.

Thanks to Netgalley and top Shelf Productions for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out on the 7th of July 2026.

[Curious Madra · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a pretty cute gay story between a human x alien scenario but I just couldn’t really connect with the characters much unfortunately. I felt their romance was too quick and the simple story side of things was just too boring. I couldn’t care less of the side characters or the main villian herself tbh. It’s probably because I’m not the target demographic of this lol…

Art is nice tho, the bois looked like they were from a K-pop band..

Got this graphic novel from Netgalley and publisher for free…

[Janneke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very cute and fun story. I really enjoyed reading about Kal and Cosmo and loved the focus on Kal's abandonment issues in particular. There were some parts where it felt like sections of the story were skipped over and it felt like the resolution of the story happened much too fast. I had a good time overall though and am definitely interested in reading more stories about Kal and Cosmo

I received an e-arc of this through netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Jada Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

My issue w/ this was the font. It just wasn’t legible for me 😭🤍 So, I wasn’t fully able to read the story. But what I could make out / put together?

I feel like it would’ve been good. Just the vibes alone. Escaping one’s past, fighting your demons, and found family 🫶🏽
I just would’ve loved it more if the font was more easier on the eyes lol.

[Charlie Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this comic.
The art stunning and I love, love, love the character designs, as they are each unique and interesting to look at.
I also very much like the color choices (especially the magic!!!)

Plot is solid and has just the right amount of fluff and angst to be keeping you hooked. (I really cannot wait for more from this series)

[Mimsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the e-ARC of Kloud 9: The Star Soldier!
3 / 5 ⭐

I liked the art and what I could understand of the plot but the ARC was given in such a low quality that a significant amount of the text was illegible.

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this in one sitting. The art is lovely, and I really enjoyed the found family dynamic.

I can't wait for the next one!

[Di · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute read. I went into it knowing nothing other than the fact I liked the cover. Look forward to reading more in this new series.