Stephanie Kay
Oct 13, 2007, 10:45 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dh/1206/OUTORB-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dh/1206/OUTORB-1t.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Outer Orbit #1"></a>Reviewer: Kerry Birmingham, birmy@juno.com
“It is unlawful to incinerate children without the proper permits.”
Story: Zach Howard, Sean Murphy, and Reed Buccholz
Krunk scenes art and poker scene pencils: Zach Howard
Quinn scenes art and poker scene inks: Sean Murphy
Script: Reed Buccholz
Colors: Charlie Kirchoff
Lettering: Thompson Knox
Logo Design: Matchstik Creative Design Studio
Outer Orbit Created by: Zach Howard and Sean Murphy
Published by: Dark Horse Comics (http://www.darkhorse.com)
Sometimes you forget, in the midst of all the Infinite Crises and Civil Warses and life-or-death struggles with universes hanging in the balance, that comics are, above all, entertainment. Whatever our investment in, say, Elongated Man’s fate, it is sometimes necessary to remind ourselves that there are plenty of comics out there that ask absolutely nothing of us, save our willingness to pay attention for 22 pages or so, give or take a splash page. Outer Orbit is not one of those comics. No, Outer Orbit asks less of its readers than that; it requires only the most basic literacy, the shortest attention span, and an appreciation of mysteriously pantsless protagonists and deadly enforcers with oedipal complexes. Also: pizza.
All of this is designed by creators Zach Howard and Sean Murphy, and they are pleased with their clearly very stupid effort. You know: the good kind of stupid.
Outer Orbit is the story of Quinn, said pantsless protagonist, intergalactic pizza delivery man and genuinely creepy indivdual. Quinn and his grumpy/homicidal partner, Krunk, former space cop and obviously annoyed sidekick. They stumble into a card game with a story to tell and all the time in the world to tell it. Quinn’s accidentally stumbled onto an object sought after by gun-toting aliens, and his attempts to sell the “idol” get him into deeper and deeper trouble. Needless to say, there’s a girl involved. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it involves guns. There’s also bounty hunters in spandex thongs, but I’ve said too much already.
If you’ve yet to catch on, Outer Orbit is, without question, dumb fun in a space fantasy setting, where men are men, women are women, and most everybody is killed or maimed in the most comical fashion possible. If a comparison’s necessary, think of it as Star Wars if Han Solo and Chewbacca were truly as big of scoundrels as they claimed to be, and the universe wasn’t guided by The Force but by... I don’t know... Tex Avery. Quinn looks like a more elfin, Emo version of Lobo, though his theft and murder is innocent in comparison.
Reed Buccholz handles scripting chores; I’m not familiar with his work, but Dark Horse’s own solicitations for this title touted the involvement of Mnemovore and Man-Thing writer Hans Rodionoff, and the creator biographies playfully indicate that “Reed Buccholz” may be a pseudonym. Regardless of the confusion, the script has a handful of laugh-out-loud lines and is consistent with the irreverent tone of the art. Howard and Murphy are creators I’m unfamiliar with (the included creator biographies, while funny, aren’t exactly helpful), but they take turns on pencils and ink each other’s pages, resulting in a generally consistent art style full of busy details and a kind of meticulous grunginess, sort of Humberto Ramos meets Keith Giffen. At times, the art could be a bit more polished. The occasional odd angle results in some distorted anatomy, and action could sometimes be clearer. It may be a cartoonish world that Quinn and Krunk live in, but it’s a dirty world, too (and I’m not just talking about the scenes with Neoki, the “bad girl” thief that brings the idol to Quinn’s greedy attention).
Howard and Murphy obviously have backgrounds in independent comics; a lot of Outer Orbit has that indie sheen of self-indulgence to it, such as the opening scene set at a coffee shop. In the opening scene, a gag where Krunk attempts to buy a coffee, Howard and Murphy are flagrantly venting their own frustrations at Starbucks pretensions, and much of the scene feels out of place with the broader humor of the rest of the issue. The humor comes fast, as does the action: it isn’t long before ships are crashing into each other and buildings are blowing up. The result is decidedly wicked humor with the trappings of space fantasy (the much sought-after idol is, at least for right now, there only to get Quinn into more and more trouble) that makes up for in enthusiasm what it lacks in craft and polish.
Any complaints to be made here are, however, surplus to requirements. This is not an epic, nor is it an exercise in universe-building. The creators are having fun telling this story about seriously deranged and terrible people, and it’s easy to turn off the part of the serious nerd’s comics-reading brain that looks for Proust in an issue of Hawkgirl and just roll with punch after inane punch (Quinn gets punched a lot). Outer Orbit can’t be pushed as essential reading by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a quick, entertaining read, undemanding in the positive sense. Plus, if you can badmouth a comic that features a single, unexplained panel of a giraffe drinking a beer, then you’re a harsher critic than I am.
If you’re looking for a recommendation, here it is: read it, laugh, forget about it, and then go back to fretting about the Elongated Man again. If Outer Orbit has affected you at all, maybe you’ll juvenilely giggle at the name “Elongated Man.” What more could you ask for from this very stupid comic?
RATING:
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Don’t be a spacehole! BUY at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=21640)
“It is unlawful to incinerate children without the proper permits.”
Story: Zach Howard, Sean Murphy, and Reed Buccholz
Krunk scenes art and poker scene pencils: Zach Howard
Quinn scenes art and poker scene inks: Sean Murphy
Script: Reed Buccholz
Colors: Charlie Kirchoff
Lettering: Thompson Knox
Logo Design: Matchstik Creative Design Studio
Outer Orbit Created by: Zach Howard and Sean Murphy
Published by: Dark Horse Comics (http://www.darkhorse.com)
Sometimes you forget, in the midst of all the Infinite Crises and Civil Warses and life-or-death struggles with universes hanging in the balance, that comics are, above all, entertainment. Whatever our investment in, say, Elongated Man’s fate, it is sometimes necessary to remind ourselves that there are plenty of comics out there that ask absolutely nothing of us, save our willingness to pay attention for 22 pages or so, give or take a splash page. Outer Orbit is not one of those comics. No, Outer Orbit asks less of its readers than that; it requires only the most basic literacy, the shortest attention span, and an appreciation of mysteriously pantsless protagonists and deadly enforcers with oedipal complexes. Also: pizza.
All of this is designed by creators Zach Howard and Sean Murphy, and they are pleased with their clearly very stupid effort. You know: the good kind of stupid.
Outer Orbit is the story of Quinn, said pantsless protagonist, intergalactic pizza delivery man and genuinely creepy indivdual. Quinn and his grumpy/homicidal partner, Krunk, former space cop and obviously annoyed sidekick. They stumble into a card game with a story to tell and all the time in the world to tell it. Quinn’s accidentally stumbled onto an object sought after by gun-toting aliens, and his attempts to sell the “idol” get him into deeper and deeper trouble. Needless to say, there’s a girl involved. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it involves guns. There’s also bounty hunters in spandex thongs, but I’ve said too much already.
If you’ve yet to catch on, Outer Orbit is, without question, dumb fun in a space fantasy setting, where men are men, women are women, and most everybody is killed or maimed in the most comical fashion possible. If a comparison’s necessary, think of it as Star Wars if Han Solo and Chewbacca were truly as big of scoundrels as they claimed to be, and the universe wasn’t guided by The Force but by... I don’t know... Tex Avery. Quinn looks like a more elfin, Emo version of Lobo, though his theft and murder is innocent in comparison.
Reed Buccholz handles scripting chores; I’m not familiar with his work, but Dark Horse’s own solicitations for this title touted the involvement of Mnemovore and Man-Thing writer Hans Rodionoff, and the creator biographies playfully indicate that “Reed Buccholz” may be a pseudonym. Regardless of the confusion, the script has a handful of laugh-out-loud lines and is consistent with the irreverent tone of the art. Howard and Murphy are creators I’m unfamiliar with (the included creator biographies, while funny, aren’t exactly helpful), but they take turns on pencils and ink each other’s pages, resulting in a generally consistent art style full of busy details and a kind of meticulous grunginess, sort of Humberto Ramos meets Keith Giffen. At times, the art could be a bit more polished. The occasional odd angle results in some distorted anatomy, and action could sometimes be clearer. It may be a cartoonish world that Quinn and Krunk live in, but it’s a dirty world, too (and I’m not just talking about the scenes with Neoki, the “bad girl” thief that brings the idol to Quinn’s greedy attention).
Howard and Murphy obviously have backgrounds in independent comics; a lot of Outer Orbit has that indie sheen of self-indulgence to it, such as the opening scene set at a coffee shop. In the opening scene, a gag where Krunk attempts to buy a coffee, Howard and Murphy are flagrantly venting their own frustrations at Starbucks pretensions, and much of the scene feels out of place with the broader humor of the rest of the issue. The humor comes fast, as does the action: it isn’t long before ships are crashing into each other and buildings are blowing up. The result is decidedly wicked humor with the trappings of space fantasy (the much sought-after idol is, at least for right now, there only to get Quinn into more and more trouble) that makes up for in enthusiasm what it lacks in craft and polish.
Any complaints to be made here are, however, surplus to requirements. This is not an epic, nor is it an exercise in universe-building. The creators are having fun telling this story about seriously deranged and terrible people, and it’s easy to turn off the part of the serious nerd’s comics-reading brain that looks for Proust in an issue of Hawkgirl and just roll with punch after inane punch (Quinn gets punched a lot). Outer Orbit can’t be pushed as essential reading by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a quick, entertaining read, undemanding in the positive sense. Plus, if you can badmouth a comic that features a single, unexplained panel of a giraffe drinking a beer, then you’re a harsher critic than I am.
If you’re looking for a recommendation, here it is: read it, laugh, forget about it, and then go back to fretting about the Elongated Man again. If Outer Orbit has affected you at all, maybe you’ll juvenilely giggle at the name “Elongated Man.” What more could you ask for from this very stupid comic?
RATING:
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Don’t be a spacehole! BUY at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=21640)