Friday, July 27, 2012

Spaceman #8

Written by Brian Azzarello
Art by Eduardo Risso

Leave it to Brian Azzarello to give us the first instance of crowd-sourcing software being used to pay a ransom.  The thugs who have Tara - a star of a reality TV webcast about adopted children and their celebrity adoptive parents - use a Kickstarter-like program to ask the show's audience to pay for her safe return.  Of course, in Azzarello's post-environmental collapse future, much like in our own time, people would probably rather see her die, and would prefer not to pay too much for their entertainment.

What the thugs who have her don't know is that various groups are descending upon them.  Orson, her former protector, and the titular Spaceman (a genetically modified human) is now working with fellow Spaceman Carter to get her back, although which of them would get her at that point hasn't been decided yet.  As well, the producers of the TV show, now working uneasily with the police, are also on their way.

Azzarello ups the tension throughout the issue, which makes a lot of sense, as it all ends next month.  I've really enjoyed the way Azzarello has played with language and slang in this comic, but he has also managed to create a number of characters whose stories I feel invested in.  Risso, as always, is brilliant. 

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