Review – Faster than Light #3 (Image Comics)

Title: Faster Than Light #3 FTL3
Publisher: Image Comics
Story and Illustration: Brian Haberlin
Colours: Dan Kemp
Release Date: 11th November 2015

It’s cold outside, there’s no kinda atmosphere, we’re all alone more or less. Or so we thought. We received a signal filled with technological advancements and one message “Run!”.

During a test drive of the Earth’s new faster than light starship, the crew discover a previously unknown planetoid. Things just go from bad to worse as we discover that the planetoid is actually a collective of parasitic life-forms intent on feeding off all the energy they can sense.

The story in this issue wraps the the first arc, really just a series prologue, so I won’t spoil it. What I will say is that the pacing is excellent and the conclusion is very satisfying while still leaving lots of loose threads for the writers to pick at further down the line. It’s very rarely you get an actual rollercoaster ride of a comic, but this delivers. Just when you think the story is over, it pulls the rug from under your feet and stands over you laughing. Judging by the first arc I can see this being adapted for TV in the not too distant future.( I think it would be best as a Netflix show). The best part is that, as far as I can see, not much would have to be changed, meaning it would stay very true to the creative teams vision. But enough gushing about the story on to the artwork.

The best way to describe the art in this book is perfect for the story. I don’t normally like the moody, brooding and dark style shown here but it really works for the story being told. It adds a rarely seen depth to the characters and makes you believe that they have real thoughts of pain, fear and joy. I would hope that if this is adapted for the screen that they keep Brian and Dan on-board as creative directors as they work so well together.

This is a beast of a book and you would be a fool not to pick up this and the previous two issues. The guys appear to have a clear story plan and I can’t wait to see where they take us next.

Rating: 5/5.

The writer of this piece was: David Gladman
David Tweets from @the_gladrags