Cluster

Cluster #1-8

by Ed Brisson

In the distant future, as mankind discovers life on other planets, it needs soldiers to defend its colonies and outposts across the stars. In order to increase the number of boots on the ground, criminals are offered the opportunity to serve in the place of incarceration. But as wars wage on and more soldiers are needed, small-time crimes are given long-term punishments. When a rag-tag group of prisoners serving their time as soldiers become stranded and abandoned on a war-torn planet, they'll need to work together to survive and uncover the truth behind Earth's role in deep space.

Written by Ed Brisson (Sheltered, Batman & Robin Eternal), and illustrated by Damian Couceiro (Sons of Anarchy) this volume collects all eight issues of the gritty, critically acclaimed sci-fi epic.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Mystery, Young Adult

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 2, 2015

About the author

Comic book writer.

Credits include: COMEBACK, SHELTERED, THE FIELD (Image Comics), SECRET AVENGERS (Marvel), ROBOCOP, SONS OF ANARCHY, HELLRAISER (BOOM!) and X-FILES/TMNT: CONSPIRACY (IDW). Plus, you know, a bunch of stuff I can’t talk about yet.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the future, criminals are sent to other planets to fight and colonize them. Our main character is sent away for drunk driving to a planet where the air is toxic. When she and some other cellmates are left out on their own, they come across the truth of what is really going on with the humans trying to colonize the planet. A pretty good sci-fi epic with gritty, copacetic art.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was dope! So there is this big company that is doing work to terraform this planet, Midlothian, for humans to safely live on. However, there is a native race of beings that ain’t feeling that. This company also runs a prison system where they make the inmates serve in their army to fight off the natives on this planet. Of course it’s deeper than that. There is a band of resistance fighters who were inmates at this prison but escaped as they have found out the truth of what really going on. Ed Brisson brought his A-game on this one. Great action, really well paced out and did a great job with the characters. I actually cared about them and was on edge when things got hairy for them. Artwork was solid also. If you like good action packed sci-fi stories then I recommend checking this one out.

[Javier Muñoz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cómic de ciencia ficción que nos lleva a un futuro en el que a los delincuentes se les ofrece la posibilidad de conmutar su pena a cambio de viajar a las colonias en otros planetas para ser utilizados como soldados. Samara es detenida por provocar la muerte de su hermana al conducir borracha y es enviada a luchar a favor de las colonias humanas al planeta mithlodian. Allí empezará intentando pagar su deuda con la sociedad como una buena soldado, pero pronto se dará cuenta que las intenciones del gobierno terrestre no son tan claras y quizás no esté en el lado de la justicia

Este es un cómic entretenido, con mucha acción y violencia, pero muy poquita profundidad, los personajes son muy planos y unidimensionales y el argumento no aporta nada nuevo, esto si hubiera salido en los 80 habría sido bastante potente, pero a día de hoy parece más un cocktail de ideas recicladas de películas cómics y libros de ciencia ficción, tratadas además de forma muy superficial.

El arte tampoco es gran cosa, las escenas de acción cumplen aunque a veces son bastante confusas y no es que sea un dibujo especialmente bonito.

Un cómic que puede resultar entretenido si te gustan las historias de acción sin mucha más pretensión, pero que falla bastante en el argumento y el ritmo

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This turned out to be better than expected. In the future, soldiers are needed to protect crews on distant planets working to colonize them. Since the work is dangerous and thankless, prisoners are offered the chance to sign up for service rather then serve their time in prison. Of course, as is usually the case in these type of situations, things are never what they seem.

This sci-fi epic reminded me of Alien Legion, Aliens, Suicide Squad, Avatar, Aliens Vs. Predator and a few other franchises, but even at that it did have its own story to tell. The art was good and the story was never boring. If you enjoy gritty science fiction, give this one a shot.

[Václav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humans want to colonize a faraway planet. To do so, they need to build and run a lot of terraforming towers. And that's a hard and dangerous job which need a lot of resources and humans aren't only ones who want to conquer the planet for themselves. Since money is not a problem, human force is. Thus prison is being built here, providing convicts for terraforming work. But new VIP convict - daughter of a senator - comes into play and discovers much-complicated truth.

I love space sci-fi. Spaceships, aliens, grey zones of space rade, firm hands of galactic armies, colonizing, terraforming, I love it all. So I enjoyed the Cluster. The art (and colouring) is decent and good looking. I cany say it's good mainstream work. As with art, it's no problem, with the story it is. Because the story is just the same old song, without any real changes. We all consumed this story somewhere, maybe in many different variations, and Cluster is just another variation. New (but archetypical) characters, different name of the planet and different look. But the principles and the story is the same. Which is a major flaw, because as reading it could be enjoyable at the time, the memory of it will be grey and bland.

[Zedsdead · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the distant future, Earth's aristocracy sustains a genocidal war against indigenous alien races by handing out huge sentences for trivial crimes and then commuting those sentences in exchange for service in the space army. A senator's daughter and prisoner/soldier uncovers the lies being used to maintain the corrupt system and becomes a revolutionary leader.

I'd have thought Cluster was mind-blowing when I was twelve. I think that's the target demographic. It's unsophisticated. The simple message seems to be "genocide is bad." Snarky bravado is substituted for characterizaton. And the dialogue...

"Eat it, you robo-totalitarian scuzzsucker!"
"Holy fudge testicles!"
"Die! You sunova--"

It always stops there, after 'sunova--'. Characters are gorily disemboweled and dismembered on every third page but the doomed soldier-inmates shan't offend anyone's delicate sensibilities with swears.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone who's not big into sci-fi I enjoyed this for what it is.

After a tragic accident we have Samara going off to a prison like planet to serve her time. But soon we get deeper into why humans are really there and who the "bad" guys really are. It's fast paced, Ed Brisson writes a solid storyline here with good dialogue, and the art works, but I feel this series never really does anything special. It feels like a standard storyline with good art but neither going out of their way to be the next big thing. Fun but didn't blow me away.

[Jeffrey E · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it is nothing original, the story was well told and it was illustrated nicely. I particularly enjoyed some of the alien designs. What stopped this being rated higher was a combination awkward dialogue and a rather abrupt ending. I felt like there was so much more to explore but instead it was wrapped up quickly. However, I would be interested to read more by this author.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author was given enough time to really flesh out this universe and build the characters properly. This story is not a fast read, but if you do enjoy the setting, it's a fun ride. Humanity has become what the dystopic scifi stories always envisoned - a ruthless race bent on massacring anything in their path to survive. The corporations never had a soul and now they are willing to terraform a vital planet to ensure their own survival, no matter the destruction to the environment. Fortunately, a small group opposes them and the introduction of an important character will give it the push it needs to continue the good fight against the corporations and their machinations and manipulations.

Samara Simmons is a member of a Military Inmate Deployment squad sent out into the wastelands to protect terraforming towers from the Pagurani who want the planet for themselves. During one of these missions, their transport ship is shot down. They must hurry back to the penitentiary within 24 hours before the timer expires on a device in their chest called a Punch. Their encounter with enemies puts them on a path that will change the planet and the way it's viewed back home.

Senator Cabral is a supporter of Global Outreach Enterprse's Military Inmate Deployment for prisoners like Samara. He wants to keep her safe to convince her father, also a senator, to support the program. Her group gets captured by MID deserters led by Lustig who reveal that the terraforming is killing the natives, something GOE wants to keep a secret. Meanwhile the atmosphere is causing cancers in the human population - another thing restricted to rumors, but people are clearly developing cancerous tumors.

GOE has sent the ruthless McHenry to retrieve Samara. By the time he reaches her, Samara in already in the deserter/rebel side of the conflict. McHenry hits them hard, but they manage to resist and even capture him. He escapes and massacres the rebels in their headquarters. Lustig offers little hope for his remaining followers, but he wants at least to make public the secrets that GOE has been keeping about Midlothian.

Lustig's group are being followed by the MID army who was promised early release upon capturing Samara and destroying the rebels. Their attack on the Tranent Penitentiary produces the chaos they need to have Samara leave the planet. Lustig has been communicating with her father who wants to bring her back home and reveal GOE's dealings on Midlothian. She is well on her to do just that thanks to the rebels' efforts. And she has finally manages to quiet the accusing image of her sister in her head.

[MonumentToDecency · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Midlothian no one can hear you scream. haha, sue me.

This could easily fit in with Alien³. Before the Sulaco crash landed. Before the penal colony was wound down to a few custodians and inmates with nowhere to go.

Imagine that Fury-161 used to be a penal planet called Midlothian. Imagine it was being terraformed, like LV-426, but by inmates. Imagine that those inmates got tired of being used and abused, and they decided to overthrow the 'powers that be'. Then, of course, after the uprising, the inmates abandon the planet and prison leaving just a few stragglers behind. They scrap the planets' name, Midlothian, and restore its planetary designation to Fiorina-161. Then Ripley crash lands in the Sulaco and all hell breaks loose... Again. To me, this is exactly where Cluster fits in the scheme of sci-fi, right there in the same universe as Aliens.



Is it obvious that I really enjoyed Cluster? It should be. It had my imagination running wild. The story is that in the distant future (I'm imagining some time shortly before 2179) Earth sends its criminals to Midlothian to terraform because Earth is a shit heap and we need some colonies. No surprises there. Inmates sent to Midlothian get 15 years. And no-one ever goes home. Our hero, Samara Simmons, the daughter of an Earth senator is kidnapped by a group of escaped convicts who want to blow the goings-on in Midlothian right out the goddamned airlock.



Cluster is fun, well written, and very pleasingly illustrated. On a whim, I picked Cluster up at the library and am exceedingly happy that I did. I was not expecting something so well rounded or memorable. This really is something that sci-fi fans would enjoy.

My Rating: 5 robo-totalitarian scuzz suckers out of 5

[Trike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid if not entirely original sci-fi tale. A corporate for-profit prison uses prisoners as soldiers as the company terraforms an alien planet for humans. They just happen to be causing the genocide of the native aliens as they do so.

It’s basically the evil Weyland-Yutani Corporation from the Alien movies if they ran the prison planet from Alien3. (Did they run that? That was such a bad movie I don’t recall.) The implanted explosive to keep prisoners in check is reminiscent of Escape From New York, while both the look-and-feel and the exiled operative comes from another Kurt Russell sci-fi flick called Soldier (trailer: https://youtu.be/4oeW9sflsdg). So pretty much an 80s/90s sci-fi mash-up.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standard sci-fi prison fare with few surprises, but clichés exist for a reason and facilitate entertainment.

[Rudi Dewilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bloody nice !

[Drew Canole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the first issue when it was first released (ages ago). Finally got around to reading the full book... and I was very disappointed. There's nothing particularly wrong with the story or the execution. It's just painfully derivative and unsurprising. Well, maybe the last couple chapters are surprising, I wouldn't know. I stopped reading it after issue 5.

[Alistair · Rating 4 out of 5]

space battles and adventure, probably really a strong 3.5 but sometimes I'm just generous?
(don't laugh it can happen, not often but hope springs eternal!)

[Will Jarrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The critiques I have about Cluster are not rooted in its entertainment, artistic, or story quality, but in its fast-paced narrative and its low episode count.

Cluster is a well thought out tale of soft science fiction, exploring future implications of colonizing the stars, the lies our leaders would use or tell us; and the depravity of obligatory service (draft, conscription, or selective). Ed Brisson, Michael Garland, and Damian Couceiro bring us a science fiction critique of colonization told from the perspective of antiheroes in a no-win scenario. Cluster challenges the narrative of hero's (heroines in this case) journey, "righteous" war, and if you look closely enough: crime and punishment.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Who is your enemy when you are obligated to fight for your freedom: When fighting those who are fighting for pure survival?

Who can you trust when your comrades range from petty criminals that would sell you out in a second: To murderers with strict codes of familial bond and loyalty? Where does moral compass and accountability lie, when put to the test of survival and trust in times of dire need?

When oppressed by society, when is siding with the enemy no longer treason in regards to your mandatory service: But valorous duty to those who are also oppressed and an act of selfless service?

Cluster never addresses these questions directly, but the story is there, when you read and ponder on the themes within it. Like many great graphic tales and comics: Cluster provides a fun and artistic experience that provides you with plenty of thought-provoking material if you have the mind and imagination to explore it.

With this said: Cluster is short and rushed, even for a graphic series. Characters are explored, but at a breakneck pace, and you barely have time to explore or enjoy them before the story comes to an open ended close or their lives are lost to the churn of warfare random chance. I truly believe the shortcoming of this comic must boil down to production costs and deadlines, and subsequent publishing drama, then a writers/illustrator will, to tell a well-developed story.

I give Cluster three stars, only for the fact that I wish the story in its 8 issue entirety had been told in at least double the amount of episodes. Further exploring its characters, motivations, rivalries and lore. Just because the material is rushed, does not mean that it is not enjoyable, or that there is not more to be explored upon.

If somehow, for some reason, any of this Comics' authors read this review: Return to Cluster, make a fully flushed series, find the money, the publisher, the time, to revisit this amazing setting; and make the story you wanted to tell in its full glory. Anyone who reads through this can tell there was more planned and little time to get it all into one shot, while doing the best you could. There's a masterpiece here in comic book story and all the ingredients to make it at least: a cult classic.

If you are looking for a quick read that has well done art, as well as intriguing story: Whether you've read a thousand stories telling the tale of a reluctant conscript, or this is your first bout into moral ambiguity and the critique of principles like "manifest destiny". There are certainly other tales that are longer that make a better point, and certainly historical reference and biography that bring harder gravitas. But no comic will bring an intriguing setting, gory glory, hard hitting action, well thought out character progression, in an easy to acquire and digest 8 issue romp that makes you scream: MORE! WHERE ARE MY OTHER ISSUES!? WHERE IS SEASON 2!?

[Jamie Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review contains mild spoilers.

This dark scifi graphic novel is set in a future where humans are traveling to distant worlds and, when needed, terraforming them. It turns out this is hard and dangerous work, especially when there are non-humans there who don’t agree with humanity’s claim to the planet. Unsurprisingly, not a lot of people are looking to spend to years in cryosleep (each way) to defend terraforming machinery from being destroyed by non-humans; so criminals are sent to do it.

The main character is the daughter of a prominent politician and could have got out of her sentence; but she declined the help when her father pulled strings. Guilt-ridden over what she’s done, she believes she deserves her 15 years of forced military service. Buying into the propaganda about unjust aliens trying to destroy the rightful claim of the humans, he sees it as a kind of patriotic penance, defending the Earth’s interests somewhere out in the galaxy. Of course, things are a lot more complicated than that.

Cluster a violent tale with plenty of blood. The art is really great at portraying the grit and gore of this unpleasant future without straying into the gratuitous. In fact, Damian Couceiro’s art is one of the best parts of book. This tale of the hard facts of a foreign planet would not have the impact without it.

As for the writing, the characters are distinct and feel like they are actual 3-dimensional beings even though we don’t get to know anyone in the book really that well. This is a really well-done maneuver Ed Brisson pulls off and it makes things all the more impactful when people start dying.

Similarly, the world-building is handled deftly with almost nothing that feels like exposition. This is another neat trick from Brisson considering the entire setup is completely outside the reader’s actual experience. Some of this is accomplished by the fact that many parts of this future are the exact dystopian things we are most afraid of right now in our present.

And this is the only place the book does not deliver. It introduces problems with colonialism, private prisons, the justice system as a means of class based oppression, and racism. But it really doesn’t say anything about any of these things and doesn’t take us anywhere with them. So, while the action-packed story is great and the plot twists make sense and the characters’ motivations all ring true, it somehow leaves the reader feeling like there should have been a lot more there there.

This was a mostly well-done scifi graphic novel, which really could have gone a whole lot deeper.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Commit a crime? Welcome to a life sentence. Want to cut down that sentence. Join the military and go off to a far-flung planet and fight a war. If you survive, after 15 years you'll be free.

Sound like a good deal?

In Ed Brisson's sci-fi action thriller, you might want to check the fine print. When Samara gets sent to prison for the death of her sister, she looks to atone by joining up with the military group that's setting up to colonize a new planet.

Along with everyone else, Samara is still a prisoner but working towards being freed. But on their first mission, they are ambushed and their ship crashes. In a desperate race to get back to base before the device implanted in each prisoner goes off and kills them, Samara's group stumbles (both literally and figuratively) the truth about the planet they are fighting on.

That truth revealed, Samara and the rebels find themselves in a race against time and an implacable (with unlimited resources) enemy to save themselves and reveal the truth to the people back home.

Ed Brisson's story crackles with an unrelenting sense of urgency. Samara no doubt is guilty of the crime she was convicted for, but as the truth is revealed about the trustworthiness of the prison system, the corruption fueling the private military group running the system and the life expectancy for the prisoners, she is thrust into an unwanted leadership role with people counting on her to not only save them but the planet at large.

This trade collection collects the entire 8 issue miniseries from Boom! Studios and for me, the only real flaw in the story was that I felt it ended just short of the finish line. I guess I wanted to see what happens next and since there isn't any further collections, I won't get that chance.

The art from Damian Couceiro, Michael Garland and Cassie Kelly brought home the story. From the character designs to the blood soaked battle scenes, they enliven the story Brisson is telling here.

[Georgette Kaplan · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know that episode of Futurama where they'd parodying Starship Troopers by having the characters fight alien balls and the joke is that the humans are invading their planet?



That's pretty much this, only played straight. It's a stock-standard "what if humans were the real monsters?" story, the kind of thing that happens five times a season on Doctor Who (probably more in these politically correct days where the companion doesn't even have to be hot). The author mashes some sci-fi cliches together to keep this from being just Avatar from Temu--we got prisoner slave labor with implanted bombs to keep them from misbehaving BUT ALSO they're soldiers in a space war!--but the alchemy never really takes. Like a lot of these "human bad" stories, it ends up making the humans as cartoonishly evil as the aliens in a fifties B-movie, so it's not really more nuanced than the old sci-fi it's deconstructing, it's just flipping around who's good and who's bad. (And at this point, a government or corporation in a sci-fi story that ISN'T evil would be the most subversive thing ever.) So decent action, decent art, but nothing that really grabs. You've seen it before, you'll see it again.

[Jean Sanderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was quite a disappointment…

** spoilers.*** you have been warned. This book is quite a disappointment.The story centers around this girl who, after partying at the club was out driving with her sister crashed and subsequently killed her sister. She was arrested for DUI and sent to a prison planet where she was forced to fight the indigenous people for Earth’s right to commandeer this planet. I was disappointed in his book because in all honesty it’s all about war and fighting and more war. The only heartfelt part of this entire storyline is the fact that this girl felt bad about killing her sister. There is no romantic love interest, no love story , no tearjerking reason to read the story again. Just war. And government lies. Will not be reading another one. Peace ✌️ out.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and engaging--if not entirely groundbreaking or original--story of a revolt on a far-future penal colony run by an evil corporation. All of the components here are pulled from existing sources, and initially, this feels so derivative as to question why it merits reading at all. But bit by bit it does pull you in, even if you can pretty well guess where it's all going. The scope and depth of the story feels like many other short series these days--that it's meant to work as much as a pitch for the movie option as it is for the original readers. But ultimately, it works well enough to enjoy it for what it is, even if that's only a middleweight action romp driven more by its excellent art than by its predictable scripting.

[Santiago Girón · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really more like 3.5, 'cause it was pretty good. Good art, good writing, interesting world and characters. There's not much missing here, except for one single thing: I still don't know where the author is trying to get at with this.
While the plot was good and all, I'm still not sure what he's aiming to do with this story: I don't know if he wants it to be a criticism to the way we treat our planet, a message to corruption, to the rich, to war, to slavery and racism.....
These all seem to be topics the story slightly tackles, but never fully dives into any of them, and when it does, it's by the very end.
Thankfully, this is barely vol. 1, so I'm probably going to keep reading to see what it's meant to be.
But all in all, pretty nice casual read.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cluster, Brisson, etc
This was worth it. Sci-fi, military invasion, corporate greed, political manoeuvring, hunt or be hunted, vilification of indigenous tribes. Intense!
#1 – “You have five seconds to comply.”
#2 – “She’s in prison. How do you think?”
#3 – “WHERE did they GO?”
#4 – “MILTON? Are you kidding me? Who names an alien ‘Milton’?” “I did. After one of my favorite writers. It’s a good name.”
#5 – “Go through the video again, find me PROOF.”
#6 – “Believe it or not, we really do come in peace, now, please .. drop your guns.”
#7 – “The odds are NOT in our favor, but then again .. they never have been.”
#8 – “I was never planning to leave this planet. There’s too much for me to do here after you’ve gone.”

[Ashkin Ayub · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cluster is quite a dramatic plot. The art is wonderful to express, without going into the details, the grit and the blood and guts of this grim fate. Damian Couceiro's illustration is actually one of the finest examples of the book. Without this account of the harsh facts of a foreign planet, there'd be no consequence.

The main characters are distinct and feel like they are really 3d people, yet we really don't know someone from the book. This is a perfect maneuver that Ed Brisson does, and makes matters all the more dramatic when people begin to die.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh.. not bad but not great. Just kinda in between. Never was able to really connect with any of the characters and there were a few occasional plot holes that I found annoying. Overall, it’s an ok book to read but if you are looking for something amazing and interesting, then you won’t find it in this book.

[Kaitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first graphic novel! picked it up at random in Half Price Books and thought I'd give it a try. I've read a few of the other reviews and I'd agree, if I had read this in middle school or high school I probably would have liked it more. But the illustrations kept me turning the page. And the fact that graphic novels are so quick to read! Will be reading more.

[Maraya21 (The Reading Dragon) · Rating 2 out of 5]

✨ Read for the 2021 KU Shitathon™ challenge – [Yearly Edition] – at Weaponized Pineapples ✨

♠ Plan C: #4 of 4 — Month: July ♠

[Alexander D. Bourns]

Missed opportunity

It had some semi clever ideas and political undertones but was not well executed. The characters were hit and miss. The art was okay but could have been better. The plot had some holes and some of the plot twists didn't make sense.

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story line here lends itself to a good marriage of text and illustration. An enjoyable read that does not condescend to its readers.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good military sci-fi. The first few issues weren't great but the second half of the series was good. No real memorable characters, but a pretty good sci-fi story for what it was.