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Valkyrie Squadron: Chapter 1 Review

 

Valkyrie SquadronRight off the bat, I can tell you that if you like Battlestar Galactica, you’ll probably dig Valkyrie Squadron by artist/writer Jules Rivera.  

In this sci-fi soap opera, a space-hopping human race is in the midst of an all-out war with a swarming army of aggressive robots called Autodrones.  While it’s not immediately clear where these “Drones” came from, what they want, or whether it’s Earth or some other Earth-like planet that the humans are defending, none of that really matters as you become instantly engrossed in the characters.    

Centering around the four strong women that make up Valkyrie Squadron, the first collection sets up a mystery that is only just beginning to unravel at the conclusion of this chapter.  The characters are fun and relatable, noble but flawed, strong yet optimistic.  In this first book, Rivera does a great job couching exposition and world building in her lively, and often hilarious, dialogue and crystal-clear character relationships.  In this story the focus is clearly on the the characters and their struggles with secret demons, secret affairs, or secret agendas, and by the end of the first book, we’re left with more questions than answers.

The art itself is a kinetic blur of pastels that leaps off the page and is a character in and of itself.  While not quite as dark as BSG (so far at least), Rivera clearly brings a joy and energy to the universe she is creating.  She expertly strikes a balance, offering a fully realized and completely unique world without exhaustively explaining every new location or unusual technology.  Ultimately, it is a story in which the reader will fall into and not want to come back out again.

Valkyrie Squadron is a science fiction online graphic novel that updates twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday).  You can read it from the beginning or buy the collected works at www.valkyriesquadron.com.

 

 

Sam Rhodes

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Favorite MovieYojimboFavorite Game:  The newest version of HaloFavorite Beverage:  Ballast Point's Big Eye IPA

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