Review by Ian Keogh

Astronaut Helen Sterling awakens on the ground of Canopus, a planet too far from Earth for her liking. At least she’s encased in a protective spacesuit, but all she remembers is an urgent need to return to Earth as the fate of humanity depends on her. Why? She doesn’t know. And who is the little robotic kid claiming to be her son?

Anyone who loves an SF mystery is going to be hooked from the start by Dave Chisholm’s set-up. After a few pages you’ll be convinced he’s taking the easy route of it all being in the mind, but he’s far, far better than that. As the pages turn Helen is somehow confronted with familiar objects, each of which unlocks some memories, while via an explanation of trees, Chisholm delves into how memory works.

Of course, the activation of memories is also the activation of emotion, and with each new found object there’s information about how it relates to Helen’s past, building a very human story alongside the mystery. In the process we learn about Helen, who she is, and why she’s that way. It’s all immaculately constructed for complete understanding, while Chisholm keeps the drawing relatively simple. The exceptions are the spreads delving back into the past, composed of many small drawings and a meandering progression of panels across the spread, each of which follows a theme.

The idea of having to confront the past to assure a viable future isn’t new, but the way Chisholm applies the maxim is novel and compelling. The fate of the Earth should be enough to make anyone want to see Helen overcome the obstacles thrown in her way, and Chisholm has one hell of a payoff to the mystery, one that’s dependent on Helen being the person we’ve seen.

Incredibly moving, and character-based, Canopus may have passed you by. It’s not issued by a major publisher, and so is jostling for attention with too many other graphic novels, yet it’s better than the vast majority of them.