Outpost Zero, Vol. 1

Outpost Zero #1-4

by Sean McKeever, Alexandre Tefenkgi (Illustrator), Alexandre Tengfenki (Artist)

Welcome to Outpost Zero: the smallest town in the universe. The people there work the land, go to the fights every Friday night, and tuck their children into bed... but the Outpost is no place for dreams. To survive is ambitious enough. As Alea and her friends graduate to adulthood under the artificial sky of a faulty biome, on a frozen world never meant to support human life... something stirs. Something sees.

Explore the mysteries and wonder of the Frost in this collection by Eisner-winning writer SEAN KELLEY McKEEVER, artist ALEXANDRE TENGFENKI, and colorist JEAN-FRANCOIS BEAULIEU.

Collects OUTPOST ZERO #1-4

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Graphic Novels Comics, Mystery, Dystopia

112 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2018

About the author

After writing indie comics (such as the ensemble teen-drama The Waiting Place) for six years, Sean got his big break writing an issue of The Incredible Hulk for Marvel Comics in 2001. Since then, Sean has written hundreds of comics for Marvel, DC Comics and other publishers, including notable runs on Sentinel, Inhumans, Mystique, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, Gravity, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Birds of Prey and Teen Titans.

Best known for delivering introspective, character-driven work, Sean also wrote several weeks of the Funky Winkerbean syndicated comic strip, much of which has been reprinted in the celebrated collection, Lisa's story: the other shoe.

In 2005, Sean won the Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition.

Sean continues to write comic books; he also writes for the videogame and animation industries.

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would've rated this higher but I found myself flipping back wondering what I missed, why the guy went in the airlock, what the secret behind the other guy being disliked was, why they waited so long to deal with the ice ... just lots of questions and no answers, which is annoying since this is a full volume.

It doesn't just end with a cliffhanger, every issue is confusing. Or maybe I'm dense? Totally possible.

Individual issue reviews: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4

Total review score: 2.875

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are a young adult and are not adopted, you may enjoy Outpost Zero Vol 1, a space opera set in the far future.

Sometime in the future, Denis and his wife, Jann, are on the Discovery Team, who look for life on their alien planet. Their 14-year-old daughter, Alea, wants desperately to join them so she secures a spot as an intern for the Team. Alea’s boyfriend, Steven, believes the Discovery Team is too dangerous but Alea isn’t swayed.

The family lives in the Outpost, a artificially created biome that allows humans to live in a large domed city on an alien planet. When Denis and Jann are outside the biome, they see a fast approaching weather cell that may spell doom for the biome and the humans that live inside.

Outpost Zero Vol 1 has a good plot for young adult readers. There is a mystery but I don’t want to give any spoilers. The artwork is fine. The color palette of dusty blues and greens fits the mood inside a biome. However, I disliked this quote by Alea regarding the head of the biome who took in her son after his parents were killed, “What I mean is, do you think the Chief would do anything for Sam? Even though he isn’t really hers?” Jann’s response is even more insensitive to adoptive families, “Well, I think—she cares about Sam, wants him to succeed. Loves him like her own son. But when a child’s yours from the start—when they come from you...there’s a bond you can’t get any other way. It’s just the way it is.” This discussion wasn’t necessary to the plot and will hurt people’s feelings. I can’t recommend this book. 2 stars.

Thanks to Image Comics and Edelweiss+ for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young adult, sci-fi mystery that takes place on another planet, which, at times, feels almost like a slice of life...but isn't.

I don't know. I liked it though. So that's something.

*read in singles*

[Valéria. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally found myself time to write few sentences to this. I was pleasantly surprised when I read first issue. This story is pretty interesting from the beginning to the end. All characters are very likable, some pretty compelling. But it is not just them what made me to love this and continue with reading issue by issue. It's storytelling. Narration is excellent, art is amazing, coloring by Jean-Francois Beaulieu is beautiful. Plot progression is really slowly but not boring. Can't wait to see what will happen next. For me it was pleasant, absorbing and full-of-emotions story.

[RG · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5* A pretty average story. It feels like a YA space set story but the scifi elements feel a little forced and irrelevant at times. Its more a look at relationships/friendships and family bonds than scifi romp. Probably skip this, better novels at Image.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Outpost Zero is incoherent. The art's decent. The setting would be neat if it were explained (a human-populated bubble city on a frozen world). The characters would probably be all right if the reader got to know them even a little bit.

The issue is that Outpost Zero drops the reader into the middle of the action and then never bothers to explain the setting, backstory, or characters. I don't even know how to explain how disjointed this whole book is. Each character wants something and has strong feelings about certain topics, but it's never clear even a little bit why the characters want or feel the way they do. And most wants and feels are tied into the setting, which is also completely unexplained. It's as if I skipped volume one and jumped right to volume three.

A day ago, I plowed to the end of a one-star read due to a dogged completionist trait. I learned my lesson and dropped Outpost Zero halfway in.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's an interesting idea here - what if later generations of interstellar travelers are lied to about their origins. Sadly, Outpost Zero doesn't do a lot with this.

Things are supposed to be spiced up by a mystery surrounding one of the children basically committing suicide (which it was hard to care about because you hardly know these people before it happens) and a natural disaster threatening the outpost. But it just never gets going, I found it quite dull.

It doesn't help that I don't really like the main characters, with Alea especially being a manipulative busybody.

Maybe this gets going in the second arc/volume..? I'm not planning to find out.

[Zedsdead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in a space colony that should never have existed. Generations back, a colony ship crash landed on a world it was not designed for. As its systems decay and resources decline, its residents are forced to choose between short-term survival and long-term viability.

It's a neat idea that doesn't really come together. The impending disaster of an approaching superstorm never generates any tension, in part because the debate over how to respond isn't entirely clear.

The mystery of one teenager's dramatic suicide is similarly unengaging; we didn't know the kid at all when he walked into the storm so his death lacked any kind of impact. And the friends who are left to deal with the aftermath are mostly bullies and and entitled brats. There's no one to rally behind, though I have the impression that one of the brats was the intended hero character.

There's enough potential here that it could be saved by a strong v2. Maybe this title just starts slow.
-------------------------------------
Note: This gem really leapt off the page.
"She loves him LIKE her own son. But when a child's yours from the start--when they come FROM you...there's a BOND you don't get any other way. It's just the way it is." Wow. I guess screw you, adopted people.

My first reaction on reading this was mild disgust at the sentiment. My second was to remind myself that the character is not the author. My third was to note that these lines don't read as characterization but as omniscient observation, which circled me back to my first reaction.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the artwork, especially how the characters are drawn, in this one. Volume one introduced several mysteries that I'm eager to see unfold in later volumes. The setting, an icy planet where the characters live inside a protective dome that may or may not hold against the weather, is kind of my worst nightmare, so I can relate to the characters' fears.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story of a colony of humans who crash landed on the wrong planet and have been stuck there ever since. They face a very slow-motion apocalypse if they can’t get off-world, which gives this story trim to address themes like entropy and despair in skillful, nuanced ways. An understated tale with emotional depth and - dare I say it? - a sense of restraint. Masterfully done.

[Shawn Ingle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tries a little too hard to be mysterious at times but otherwise an engrossing tale about survival on a frozen planet.

[Manon the Malicious · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was provided an ARC by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

This is usually the part where I write a small summary of the book. But I don't know how right now...
I guess the plot felt a bit messy to me and it took me a long time to grasp how the world worked and honestly I'm still not sure I got it. To me, that meant that I had trouble getting into the story.
Sure, the characters were pretty interesting but since I didn't really get their world, I had trouble getting them. I also didn't love the main character, Alea, and was much more interested by her friend, Lyss, and Sam.
I really liked the art though and the plot was interesting once I got into the story.
I'll probably check out the second volume.

[Ruthsic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warnings: suicidal ideation

Outpost Zero is a mystery set in a science fiction novel - that is the simplest way to describe it. It tells of a small colony of humans residing in a biome on an icy planet, and their way of life is sustained by maintaining it close to Earth conditions (so don't go expecting a futuristic city here), and pretending to ignore what is outside. However, they have a Discovery Team, whose job is to explore the region outside the biome, and Alea's parents are on it. She herself wants to join it, and hopes to go forth into uncharted territory, quite opposite in dreams to her best friend, who belongs to the faction of people who think that opening the airlock is a security risk. That is an ideological issue for the colony's residents, as they figure out how to survive during a Cell (a storm-like thing that dumped tonnes of ice on their biome, essentially trapping them) and how best to calm its citizens. The mystery arrives somewhere halfway, as a breach challenges Alea to find out the truth, as well as hints about the origin of the colony strewn about through another character POV. The artwork is pretty good, full color and rendered quite well, but these is a problem with the progression of scenes. Additionally, it is very confusing in its setting and doesn't lend itself to explaining much, expecting the reader to fill the gaps as it goes, which along with the fact that it is a mystery, makes for a distracting reading experience. On the whole, an interesting start, but I would like it better if the storytelling is improved.

Is it diverse? The main character, Alea, is Asian, and there are some POC secondary characters

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Image Comics, via Edelweiss.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a great book in here trying to get out – it's just there's a lot of other stuff in the way, preventing it. In some future time, an intergalactic ark full of human life has crash-landed on a horrendously cold, stormy planet, and the survivors must stay maintaining their position in their biome habitat, complete with fake sunny sky, endless food supply and warmth. But the position is ever tenuous – and, if the blurb is to be believed – although it's not even in the book – something is out in the ice looking in. Oh, and a great secret or something may have also been brought with the ship, much to the ignorance of many on board. So, that's a wonderful scenario, but what we mostly get is Eminently Forgettable Teen yacking to Eminently Forgettable Teen, and even when the Highly Dramatic turns up, it's still just "The Dome" as rewritten by a third-rate John Hughes. There's so much potential here, so this definitely is a title worth revisiting with future volumes. It's just I really wish the creators had gone with a very different approach – or made even one of their leads likeable.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not easy growing up when everyone expects you to contribute in ways that benefit everyone. When you need to survive, for some it's enough to get by. For others, they want to thrive and try stuff out. But many people are just not willing to take the risks. For many, this kind of life is all they have. Anything that could deviate would practically send some people over the edge.
When that actually happens however, people don't know how to deal with it.
There are so many unknowns it's unbearable. Could the crux of a civilization out in the middle of nowhere be all based on a lie? A secret so dark, that people are willing to take it to their graves in the cold blue world outside. Is it truly better to live in ignorance and bliss though? Because the more people think they know something, that's just admitting that they're hiding their insecurities.
Sometimes it's better to take a leap of faith, no matter what the odds are.

[Arden Belrose ♛ Phantom Paper · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars

This story was okay. I liked the elements of danger and mystery. The characters were diverse and dynamic. You've got Asians, Africans, Caucasians and adoptive kids. Questions of humanity are peppered throughout and gives food for thought. I was saddened by one aspect in this story, which I can't tell for spoiler reasons.

The illustration style is like that of sketches with lightly fuzzy edges, less polished. I got confused once determining who was Steven and who was Sam. Sam's darker skinned so it wasn't clear in one frame where Sam was sitting in an unlit room and his skin tone looked the same as others.

I think the key strength of this story is its ongoing mystery. I really want to know the truth and you won't get any answers in this volume.

I received a free copy of this book, with thanks to Image Comics and Edelweiss, in return for an honest review.

[Paul Decker · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received this book as an eARC from Image Comics via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*

This comic takes place on a generation ship turned colony. Alea is the 14 year old protagonist. A friend of hers appears to have committed suicide. The colony has many difficulties. It has a small town feel with a loose government that is pretty much organized like a company with different groups controlling different aspects. The inter-team conflicts lend to some fun politics.

This comic doesn't really push the envelope. There's some questionable dialogue about adoptive parents. I wish this comic had more diversity and representation.

This is a small town teen drama, but on a colony in space. Unfortunately there isn't much resolution by the end of the first volume, so I will be looking out for volume two. I give this book a 3.5/5.

[Mike Jorgensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. It is a small town/scale, yet set in a dystopian sci-fi setting. It deals with depression, anxiety, and grief as well as exploration, expression, and discovery. To me, the central question of this series is: are humans meant to keep their heads down and survive or are they meant to explore, discover, and grow? That is a perfect question to wrestle with in a coming-of-age drama.

This book resists the tropes that so often ensnare this genre. There is no painful teen romance, there are no extraneous characters, no 1-dimensional/expositional characters, and they don't manufacture suspense or intrigue by scrambling the order of events. It is a straightforward chronological read with a small cast of well-written characters.

For detailed thoughts, listen to my podcast discussion of this book:
https://www.storiedarcs.com/outpost-z...

[White House Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel is set in a small outpost that all of humanity lives in. Each individual is given a career as everyone must do their part to keep the outpost habitable. It follows the lives of 4 teens who are dealing with the career they are able to be given. However, when a storm hits and one of these teens loses his life, evidence arises that makes them question what is outside, the past, and what all is in the outpost.

I felt that the story was fast pace and with enough mysteries to keep the reader's interest. I also enjoyed the story's plot and the character development through the book. I would definitely recommend that you pick up this book.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐1/2 - I bought a bunch of these issues for $1 each and finally got around to reading the first volume's worth today. I like space and I like mysteries, and I did enjoy this opening segment. Some of the characters are well-developed and others not-so-much. I think that trying to develop an entirely new world (the outpost) with all its rules, roles, and histories while also starting the mystery at the very beginning makes it a little hard to latch onto. However, the story provides enough of an interesting mystery and I already have the next 4 or 5 issues, so I will probably go back to them at some point.

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

This coming of age in space trope is pretty popular in television, film, books, and comics right now. With so much material on a given, very specific, subject you need something to stand out. For me, this story built too slow, and relied to much on dialogue.

While the dialogue, itself, was well-written and seemed very realistic, it didn't constantly push the narrative forward, so I found myself getting bored with it.

It's a perfectly fine story if you love post-apocalyptic coming of age in space stories but it didn't feel exceptional.

[Paul Allard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science fiction comic series which is quite original and interesting

Alea lives in the Outpost with her parents and a community trying to survive in difficult circumstances. The politics between various teams can clash and the youngsters also have divided loyalties. The story is enjoyable and moves along well and the characters are interesting. The artwork is reasonably clear and detailed. I enjoyed this first volume and am keen to see where it goes from here.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

McKeever does a great job of creating a mystery that readers are so interested in. He and Alexandre Tefenkgi do a fantastic job of world building without making readers struggle to understand. The book is science fiction but its more about people and what they do when things are changing all around you. The art suits the book well and the series looks very promising. Overall, a good read and a better opening chapter.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has a good premise, good characters, and good art. But it left me confused about what was happening. Why is this called the smallest town in the universe? What is its relationship to anything else? It appears to be cut off permanently from any other civilization. How does the artificial sky work and what is it not showing them? I just put volumes 2 and 3 on hold at the library, so maybe they will give more background. And, of course, solve the mystery of Steven's apparent suicide.

[Chris Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slow build sci-fi with some early emotional moments and an intriguing setting. But it builds too slowly. By the end of this arc, not enough is revealed of the story or world to make it very engaging. Even the “cliffhanger” ending is just meh. I might stick around because I like sci-fi, but this needs to start going somewhere more interesting soon.

[Emmy Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really do love this—knocking off a star because the mystery is only partially solved in this volume because most of chapter three is running in circles and there’s some pretty shitty reactions to suicide and adoptive-parents-aren’t-the-same-as-real-parents which is garbage. The worldbuilding and diversity are brilliant, and I think it’s going to be a big hit at my library.

[Scott Rowland]

Compelling science fiction with heart

OUTPOST ZERO takes place on a crashed colony ship that has to deal with sustaining itself on an icy, unhospitable world. The characters are well portrayed, especially lead, who wants to join her parents as part of the Discovery Team, tasked with exploring the world outside the ship. When a friend dies, she is determined to find answers.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did like this, except for being rather puzzled and feeling like I missed something in the plot, and I reread several pages several times, but I still have no idea, really, what happened and why. Don't want to spoil anyone's enjoyment of the book.

[JennicaaJade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast read. Raises a lot more questions than answers, in a good way, that makes you want more. I am interested in finding out more about the history of the people that are surviving at outpost zero and what Steven's "last" words mean for outpost zero.

[Davy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating premise, but the characters felt underdeveloped and the story didn't hold together well for me. Felt like they were trying to do too much too quickly, without spending enough time on building a firm foundation.