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Venus #1-4
Venus
Science fact and science fiction collide in this new story from Rick Loverd, Program Director for The Science and Entertainment Exchange, an organization that pairs expert scientists with storytellers. In 2150, Earth’s resources have been depleted and countries race to outer space to mine what they need from other planets. A group of Americans making its way to Venus crash-lands on the planet, forcing them to do whatever it takes to navigate the harsh landscape in their journey to find the science base they were flying toward. In the vein of great adventure survival stories like Lost and The Martian, there’s only one reality on Venus—adapt or die. Collects the complete limited series. “Venus puts the science back in science fiction in a meaningful, fascinating way.” - Ron Marz (Witchblade)
114 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 25, 2016
7 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 25, 2018
100% of the comics-reading adults in my household regularly lament the dearth of hard/military sci-fi in comics, so we were excited to find this space colonization survival book.
Venus is set in 2150, during a race between the U.S. and the "Pan Pacific Alliance" to settle Venus and exploit its natural resources. (Apparently and unsurprisingly, humanity hasn't learned much by 2150.) The story follows a U.S. ship as it crashes on Venus. There's a stark contrast in the first pages between the too-real crash and the shiny, patriotic political speech about the expedition, as given back on Earth. That contrast sets an appropriately grim tone for the book. Commander Pauline Manashe assumes command during the crash due to the Captain's death and has to deal with a damaged ship, injured and dead crew, environmental hazards, sabotage, and unclear loyalties among the surviving crew. It's one completely believable disaster after another. If you like a tale where every 15 minutes you say "Holy sh--, what NOW?! These people are SO DEAD!" then this book is for you.
Characters are fully developed, the atmosphere is tense, and the conflicts between them are significant and feel real. Manashe is far from perfect and has to make hard decisions, but I appreciated that neither the story nor the other crew members give her a pass just because she's the main character and commanding officer. As an illustrator, Danlan is especially strong with body language and perspective. A perfect fit, since this book is like 80% arguments and action scenes. In a good way.
I'm sad that this was a miniseries, because I would have settled in to read an ongoing series, especially with the way it ended. Not a cliffhanger exactly, but plenty of room to keep going.
Diversity notes: (1) Two of the three major characters after Manashe are POC and scientists: Lt. Alejandra Reyes, the female ship's engineer, and civilian botanist Dr. Chad Park. The ship's doctor, last name Gold, is a woman of color. That was yay in a genre that often seems to forget people of color when envisioning the future! (2) For the creators, I can't find any biographical info about Huang Duanlan. Marcio Menyz is Brazilian.
Venus is set in 2150, during a race between the U.S. and the "Pan Pacific Alliance" to settle Venus and exploit its natural resources. (Apparently and unsurprisingly, humanity hasn't learned much by 2150.) The story follows a U.S. ship as it crashes on Venus. There's a stark contrast in the first pages between the too-real crash and the shiny, patriotic political speech about the expedition, as given back on Earth. That contrast sets an appropriately grim tone for the book. Commander Pauline Manashe assumes command during the crash due to the Captain's death and has to deal with a damaged ship, injured and dead crew, environmental hazards, sabotage, and unclear loyalties among the surviving crew. It's one completely believable disaster after another. If you like a tale where every 15 minutes you say "Holy sh--, what NOW?! These people are SO DEAD!" then this book is for you.
Characters are fully developed, the atmosphere is tense, and the conflicts between them are significant and feel real. Manashe is far from perfect and has to make hard decisions, but I appreciated that neither the story nor the other crew members give her a pass just because she's the main character and commanding officer. As an illustrator, Danlan is especially strong with body language and perspective. A perfect fit, since this book is like 80% arguments and action scenes. In a good way.
I'm sad that this was a miniseries, because I would have settled in to read an ongoing series, especially with the way it ended. Not a cliffhanger exactly, but plenty of room to keep going.
Diversity notes: (1) Two of the three major characters after Manashe are POC and scientists: Lt. Alejandra Reyes, the female ship's engineer, and civilian botanist Dr. Chad Park. The ship's doctor, last name Gold, is a woman of color. That was yay in a genre that often seems to forget people of color when envisioning the future! (2) For the creators, I can't find any biographical info about Huang Duanlan. Marcio Menyz is Brazilian.
April 8, 2016
I think there many reasons I'm giving this a high rating. Among those reasons:
1) There are very few good science fiction comics (Saga has never quite hit me as science fiction)
2) Yes, it is like Andy Weir's The Martian, but on Venus. However, I really like The Martian
3) My most recent comic reads have been so disappointing that they made this look better than it is (a possibility)
A very solid piece of work. The USA decides to set up a Venus Colony, as a Pan Pacific Confederation (strongly hinted that the group is dominated by China) got to Mars first to exploit Mars and the asteroid belt. Ergo a group of military, astronauts etc. is put together to colonize Venus.
Except sabotage gets in the way of the colony.
The characterization is a little thin, and the cliff hanger ending a bit of a disappointment (at this time no word whether or not Boom! or another publisher has picked up the series). Pluses include the comparison to The Martian, but without the first person narrative and sometimes obnoxious humor, and a good survival story.
1) There are very few good science fiction comics (Saga has never quite hit me as science fiction)
2) Yes, it is like Andy Weir's The Martian, but on Venus. However, I really like The Martian
3) My most recent comic reads have been so disappointing that they made this look better than it is (a possibility)
A very solid piece of work. The USA decides to set up a Venus Colony, as a Pan Pacific Confederation (strongly hinted that the group is dominated by China) got to Mars first to exploit Mars and the asteroid belt. Ergo a group of military, astronauts etc. is put together to colonize Venus.
Except sabotage gets in the way of the colony.
The characterization is a little thin, and the cliff hanger ending a bit of a disappointment (at this time no word whether or not Boom! or another publisher has picked up the series). Pluses include the comparison to The Martian, but without the first person narrative and sometimes obnoxious humor, and a good survival story.
September 26, 2017
This sort of felt like it was going to be Andy Weir's the Martian set on Venus, with a bigger team. But somehow that aspect of survival was lost a bit. Maybe fewer characters and more survival. I don't know. Perhaps the planned future of it would have gone in that direction, but sadly I don't think there will be any more of it.
Really liked the premise though. Would have liked to have seen more.
Really liked the premise though. Would have liked to have seen more.
February 3, 2020
Nice art, fast paced plot and great images of Venus. The characters are all pretty good as well. I do wish there was more to this, but I guess part of the point is to imagine it for yourself. I love the idea behind this as well- science fiction to push science fact.
If you liked The Martian, you'll love this!
If you liked The Martian, you'll love this!
September 22, 2019
This comic is mature enough and with beautiful enough artwork to warrant a read. It's primarily aimed at scifi fans, but its focus on human psychology while under stress should appeal to other readers as well. I certainly enjoyed it, but the story is far from over and I could only find the first volume. There is plenty of potential here. Too bad that nothing else was published in this universe.
In 2150 the population of Earth is 30 billions strong. A new Cold War is ongoing between America and the Pan Pacific Alliance, the latter of which has already built a Mining Colony on Mars. America aims at Venus and sends the ship Mayflower to colonize and terraform the planet. Unfortunately, they crashland and lose their captain along with several other members of the crew. As second ranking officer, Commander Pauline Manashe assumes control to the annoyance of some of the military personel. Her decisions are questioned, but she manages to save the rest of the crew until they reach Camp Augustine. They believe themselves saved until they find that the camp is in ruins. Worse yet, the mision might have been sabotaged intentionally by someone on board.
In 2150 the population of Earth is 30 billions strong. A new Cold War is ongoing between America and the Pan Pacific Alliance, the latter of which has already built a Mining Colony on Mars. America aims at Venus and sends the ship Mayflower to colonize and terraform the planet. Unfortunately, they crashland and lose their captain along with several other members of the crew. As second ranking officer, Commander Pauline Manashe assumes control to the annoyance of some of the military personel. Her decisions are questioned, but she manages to save the rest of the crew until they reach Camp Augustine. They believe themselves saved until they find that the camp is in ruins. Worse yet, the mision might have been sabotaged intentionally by someone on board.
May 18, 2020
For a comic picked up on a whim, this wasn’t all too bad! Interesting, high stakes premise of a colony heading to Venus with a lot of inter-planetary politics in the background.
”We adapt. Or we die.”
The characters are all badass in their unique ways, but we all know that when too many of them are in a room someone’s bound to get butthurt.
I felt like the constant rankling on each other’s nerves within the team, while it progressed the plot and did have some fun banter, also got really annoying after a while. The moments of downtime between conflicts was so few, it just felt like the hits never stopped coming.
I honestly would read a series just following Dr. Park’s life amid the chaos of this colony because he was (to me) the most comedic of the group and I actually really liked him. I feel like comedy is not often injected into these intense scifi setting when it could really play well together (or I’m just not looking in the right places)!
That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy this limited series for what it is. For a four issue run, they crammed as much as they could in to make it worthwhile. If you’re interested I still highly recommend checking it out!
”We adapt. Or we die.”
The characters are all badass in their unique ways, but we all know that when too many of them are in a room someone’s bound to get butthurt.
I felt like the constant rankling on each other’s nerves within the team, while it progressed the plot and did have some fun banter, also got really annoying after a while. The moments of downtime between conflicts was so few, it just felt like the hits never stopped coming.
I honestly would read a series just following Dr. Park’s life amid the chaos of this colony because he was (to me) the most comedic of the group and I actually really liked him. I feel like comedy is not often injected into these intense scifi setting when it could really play well together (or I’m just not looking in the right places)!
That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy this limited series for what it is. For a four issue run, they crammed as much as they could in to make it worthwhile. If you’re interested I still highly recommend checking it out!
January 6, 2021
3.5 stars
The story is most certainly compelling, but it feels like it's half the journey (at best) and I wish there was a follow up volume. The characters and some of the plot beats are admittedly cliché, not in a bad, or good, way, just somewhat mediocre. The art, I feel like it could've been a tad less stylized? It's pretty, could've been prettier, is what I'm getting at, and a few of the poses looked a bit odd to me, can't make up my mind if that's an issue with the poses themselves or the added layer of the suits, though. Quite liked the color palettes, especially the one for the Venus landscape. The title panels are gorgeous.
Entirely outside of that, a couple of people shelved this work as LGBT+, and I don't see it? I suppose Reyes' character design could be seen as one trying to convey a queer woman (more specifically, butch), but does that warrant the LGBT+ shelving? Because, it kind of doesn't to me, but I would like to know what other people might think about that bit.
The story is most certainly compelling, but it feels like it's half the journey (at best) and I wish there was a follow up volume. The characters and some of the plot beats are admittedly cliché, not in a bad, or good, way, just somewhat mediocre. The art, I feel like it could've been a tad less stylized? It's pretty, could've been prettier, is what I'm getting at, and a few of the poses looked a bit odd to me, can't make up my mind if that's an issue with the poses themselves or the added layer of the suits, though. Quite liked the color palettes, especially the one for the Venus landscape. The title panels are gorgeous.
Entirely outside of that, a couple of people shelved this work as LGBT+, and I don't see it? I suppose Reyes' character design could be seen as one trying to convey a queer woman (more specifically, butch), but does that warrant the LGBT+ shelving? Because, it kind of doesn't to me, but I would like to know what other people might think about that bit.
March 23, 2021
Not quite three stars, but it has promise. A lot of other reviewer lament that here aren't enough good sci-fi comics and this is scratching some of that itch.
It has a good set-up. A colonizing expedition beset by disaster and maybe sabotage learns they are stuck on Venus after earth erupts into war. There is lots of potential there. This veers off into the sabotage and an odd romance between the female captain and one of her crew that blurs into the sabotage and comes off as muddled. He goes from lover to the brig to escapee without much explanation.
Sill, its got good art and a fair start, so I'll try to read volume 2.
It has a good set-up. A colonizing expedition beset by disaster and maybe sabotage learns they are stuck on Venus after earth erupts into war. There is lots of potential there. This veers off into the sabotage and an odd romance between the female captain and one of her crew that blurs into the sabotage and comes off as muddled. He goes from lover to the brig to escapee without much explanation.
Sill, its got good art and a fair start, so I'll try to read volume 2.
March 4, 2017
Good, hard sci-fi; I liked the essays at the back, with a variety of opinions about spaceflight and planet colonization. Kind of interesting to read this immediately after the discovery of TRAPPIST-1 and its habitable planets.
Also interesting to read after Weir's The Martian has become so widely read, and the movie did so well. I almost want *more* detail in the narrative about how they'd survive with a damaged greenhouse after "The Martian", which is kind of funny since that sort of exposition can be a turnoff in hard sci-fi.
Given that this seems to be a one-shot, I did not love the ending; I don't think a book needs to wrap things up in a neat bow, but there's stitching things up and then there's leaving a massive B plot with a reveal in the last few pages with no resolution. Boo.
Also interesting to read after Weir's The Martian has become so widely read, and the movie did so well. I almost want *more* detail in the narrative about how they'd survive with a damaged greenhouse after "The Martian", which is kind of funny since that sort of exposition can be a turnoff in hard sci-fi.
Given that this seems to be a one-shot, I did not love the ending; I don't think a book needs to wrap things up in a neat bow, but there's stitching things up and then there's leaving a massive B plot with a reveal in the last few pages with no resolution. Boo.
May 6, 2020
It was a great into, but it was just that. As everything gets established it ends. As the series wasn't picked up for any additional installments I can't recommend it as something to get overly excited about. What is here is great, but it will leave you feeling empty due to the lack of a conclusion.
December 16, 2018
An intriguing take on a crewed mission to Venus. I've long felt Venus is an underappreciated plan worthy of more crew and robotic missions and the NASA/JPL involvement by Kevin Hand and others here makes this a standout for sure. A good read for space fans.
October 22, 2019
Really well conceived, written, and drawn, with a lot of interesting worldbuilding hints... but it's not a story. It's not an "open" ending, it's no ending, no conclusion. Would've loved to read what, presumably, would have been the whole thing if the creators had been able to do it.
December 2, 2023
"Venus" is a fast paced and suspenseful science fiction adventure with a strong plot, complex and believable characters and a fair amount of hard science worked into the details.
4.5 stars rounded to 4.
4.5 stars rounded to 4.
September 7, 2017
I loved this. It was gritty, fast paced, and was thoughtful.
October 29, 2018
Engaging from the get go. Great art, interesting story. But one wonders where it can go next with such a limiting opening. Four stars.
November 10, 2019
It's a real shame this series didn't get continued. It seems really similar to The Martian, but the additional twists keep the story compelling.
July 18, 2020
The Martian on hard mode. Sad that its only 4 issues though. Left the door open for a continuation.
July 26, 2020
Yes, it's short, but it's non-stop tension and advancement from the moment the craft is hurtling down to the ground of Venus after an explosion, and the crew and new captain struggle to survive.
July 31, 2020
A very frustrating read in that it's a pilot for a series that never happened, so the story is all setup and no resolution.
March 11, 2021
Good story but it feels like chapter one of a long running series. It’s just pure set up.
February 18, 2017
Dos cosas muy buenas: sé, por la reseña del astrónomo Phil Plait, que la ciencia en esta novela es sólida. La parte gráfica: ambientación, arte, es muy buena también. Las no buenas: todo es muy abrupto. Las acciones son precipitadas y pese a que no hay tiempo de profundizar en los personajes, igual hay acciones que se sienten fuera de éstos. El final es abrupto (en el caso de ser una novela autocontenida, como fue anunciada). Es una pena que los puntos débiles sean justamente los que llevan el peso narrativo, pues la historia es fascinante.
January 16, 2017
I took a chance on this book on a whim, not recognizing the creative team, and I'm glad I did. Really fascinating story about a colonization mission to Venus going awry, seemingly in part due to sabotage. It's largely self contained, but sets itself up for an as-yet unannounced sequel down the line, which I would have dug more if said sequel were being announced!
March 7, 2022
I really like the first two volumes and I'm bummed that this series didn't continue!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews