Those unlucky astronauts
I think the hardcover of Astronauts in Trouble is shrunk a bit. When I read the text, it was a bit small and didn’t seem to be the original size. At first, it was a little annoying since I like things to be like it was the first time.
The art by Charlie Adlard both was and wasn’t a surprise. In a way, it was what I expected a AiT/PlanetLar-book to look. It reminds me of Brian Wood’s Channel Zero except that Adlard’s style isn’t as stiff as Wood’s. It looser and less posed.
And that brings me to Larry Young’s writing. It’s the best thing about the book, and since Adlard’s art is damn good, this says alot. Like all great stories—be it a book, comic, movies or tv-show—it focuses on the characters. The channel 7 news-team are people you’d like to meet and hang out with. You want to join their discussions because how cool isn’t it to talk about the crapiness of low-buget barbarian movies when taking your first walk on the moon? Right, you can’t top it. And then Larry goes and does it with the One Shot, One Beer installment. Of course the moon needs a pub with Guinness on tap. Especially when more and more people get out into space. The logic is flawless.
In a way, it uses the same story technique as the first AiT story when the main characters were in a spacecraft. To spend time you tell stories. This goes double up when you’re in a bar with beer. Drinking on the moon shouldn’t be any difference. So I drink to Larry and Charlie and hope that some day those astronauts will get in more trouble.
