Review by Ian Keogh

The Space Scouts are a prestigious superhero organisation spanning galaxies, and every year they admit a new member, chosen via a rigorous system of tests screened universally as they take place. Matt Kindt’s starting point for Space Scouts is the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the issues during the height of their popularity where they held auditions for new members, upgraded to encompass the era of the reality TV show.

Ember of the planet Venatu is the viewpoint, a reluctant contestant despite the prize on offer and the prestige merely being selected brings to her home planet, yet, as we discover, her very reluctance is an appealing characteristic.

What prevents the Space Scouts being immediately derivative is the ability of David Rubín to create convincing humanoid aliens inhabiting alien environments. There’s a tongue in cheek element to the entire story, and that’s also visually captured by the plain goofy style and the stranger creations, one of whom is Ay-Eye, gloriously designed as a human head with the body of a mechanical spider. To top it all off, they smoke! The notable designs are present from the start, but come into their own after finalists are whittled down to ten for a last challenge, when Kindt supplies each with a background over a series of thoroughly imaginative spreads (sample art).

The tournament takes us to halfway, after which there’s a revelation about the Space Scouts also participating in an endless secret war on the edge of the galaxy, but that’s not the entire story either.

For all the clever moments, fast pacing and fantastic art, Space Scouts never really hooks an audience in the manner of Kindt and Rubín’s previous collaboration Ether. It’s a repository for unexplored ideas, so conceptually rich, but as such almost reads as a detailed synopsis rather than a story. Two first rank creators are at work here, so there’s no lack of value, but there is a lack of substance.