A World at War
Young Bill Young here. I’ll be hosting this blog the next three days while Sadie is in Denver helping to select the next round of Great Graphic Novels for Teens. It’s my first time blogging, so this should be fun.
I’m an SF geek, raised on DC superhero comic books, and a big reader of science fiction and speculative fiction novels from Isaac Asimov to CJ Cherryh to Connie Willis. When I rediscovered comics a couple of years ago, I was naturally drawn to titles with SF themes. Devil’s Due Publishing’s Drafted certainly satisfies my jones for this type of fare.
Writer Mark Powers and artist Chris Lee skilfully introduce the premise: a group of aliens known as The Select arrives on Planet Earth and drafts humans against their will to help fight in an interstellar war against a malevolent, predatory species of planet eaters. The planet eaters are already landing on Earth, and The Select tells humans they have no choice but to cooperate if they want the remotest chance to save their home.
Like all good science fiction, it’s not just about the big plot—it’s about the characters, and this is where Drafted excels. Unburdened by human discrimination, The Select assembles small fighting units regardless of the race, creed, or socio-economic backgrounds of the individual fighters. The members of each unit must hone their skills together and learn to get along if they hope to have any success.
The core cast includes convenience store clerk Gabriel Contreras, who becomes leader of his unit; Emergency Medical Tech Kris Nelson, who’s cancer is cured when The Select arrives; Raisa, an anti-Taliban rebel from Afghanistan; London psychiatrist Devon McNeil; Preston Walker, the President of the United States (a barely-disguised George W. Bush); and computer programmer Audrey Martin, who’s capture by the enemy and subsequent return to her fighting unit provides an OMG twist to the story.
Powers has great empathy for his characters, and we care about Contreras’s unit as well as the humans left on Earth (including First Lady Lori Walker) who work to keep some semblance of civilization.
Drafted has reached the end of it’s first arc, or “season”, and the first trade paperback of the first six issues is out. The second trade is due out in March. Powers has plans for this epic series, so now is the time to enlist!
Also check out the Comixology podcast with Mark Powers.
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Right on!