Review by Frank Plowright
Outpost Zero is a great SF adventure, mystery and character based drama, and despite this Complete Collection having a slightly smaller page size than standard graphic novels, it’s the best way to appreciate a true graphic novel over fourteen chapters. It’s better than the sum of its parts as found in trades The Smallest Town in the Universe, Follow it Down and The Only Living Things, although follow the links for more information about specific plot threads.
Although there are crossover points, Sean Kelley McKeever’s cast split into two broad groups that generally only interact among themselves. The early pages introduce a group of fourteen year olds just at the point where they’re about to be allocated to the departments where they’ll spend their working lives. They’re contrasted with the adults already running those departments, and the concerns of both groups are investigated. Everyone lives in Outpost Zero, designed as a town sized spacecraft to transport a community of humans to a new habitable planet. Instead, generations ago, it crashed on a frozen planet where conditions are too harsh to support life outside the protective dome. The residents are adaptable, but don’t have the knowledge to repair the craft.
This was the first major assignment for artist Alexandre Tefenkgi, but without being told you’d assume he’s someone who’s learned all the tricks over a long career, such is the confidence of his storytelling, character design and locations. This is phenomenal art, rich in personality.
The two primary characters are seen on the cover. Alea stands arms folded, confident and courageous, and she’s a motivational force, especially for Sam, seated left, who largely keeps to himself, but from the first page it’s revealed he knows something unknown to the remainder of the community. They form an unusual combination prompted to explore long abandoned areas of Outpost Zero. This is counterpointed by the different viewpoints within the community and thoughts on the best way for society to proceed, whether exploration and the possible chance of discovery is positive, or whether using the airlock too frequently in doing so endangers everyone.
Although the facade of normal Earth-like skies is maintained, for much of the story a massive deposit of ice on the dome threatens to crack it, which will result in the deaths of everyone within.
A few characters don’t reach their full potential, but their presence is necessary to reflect others, and McKeever’s foreshadowing in this respect is first rate. Because so much attention focusses on the teenage cast, it might be assumed this is a young adult graphic novel, which is not the case. It would take a very precocious reader from that age group to grasp the emotional nuance of an intelligent and ultimately hopeful impassioned plea for exploration, and this is the form supplying the best experience.
