Astronauts In Trouble: Live From The Moon
Written by Ron Larry Young, Artwork by Matt Smith and Charlie Adlard

Man, I love rockets. It started with Tintin, who is probably Belgium's most notorious comic hero. Two of his albums -- Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon -- feature my favorite tool of space exploration: a kick-ass rocket. Checkered red and white motif all over...it's a beautiful thing. And since then, I harbor this intense love of rockets and the mysteries of space. My favorite Frank Sinatra song is "Fly Me To The Moon."

So when I see a book dealing with all that wacky space stuff, I'm immediately interested. Enter Larry Young's Astronauts in Trouble: Live From the Moon. In 2019, a few things have changed; News Networks are enormous enterprises as big as Microsoft, the Mob is a nuclear power, it's been 50 years since Neil Armstrong took his "one small step," and the world's richest man, Ishmael Hayes, decides to go back to claim the moon as his own personal property. But, luckily, covering all of this is our favorite news team, Channel 7!

When the Eco-Terrorist organization known as Green Sleeves attempts to sabotage the pre-launch tests with a deadly toxin bomb, Hayes is forced to go into space to save his crew and destroy the toxin. Of course, the Channel 7 team, composed of reporter (and America's most trusted man) Dave Archer, intrepid cameraman Allen Heck, and segment producer Annie "Sparky" Franklin, is along for the ride.

Scribe Larry Young not only knows his stuff -- he loves it. His exhaustive research shows. There's serious space science here, and it doesn't detract from the reading. Young also takes an interesting approach to pacing; the first chapter is pure fast action. It gets the characters established, gets them in their ships, and then, boom, to the moon. The second segment, however, takes a more relaxed approach as the characters wait for their imminent arrival on the moon and take the time to get to know one another. This is not to say that nothing happens, but Young does take the time to slow down things for us to get in on characters and their motivations. Several times throughout the story, Young deftly juxtaposes action and character. Though he does both nicely, there is noticeable room for improvement, and as he continues to publish more stories, I'm sure he's going to base things on this solid foundation.

I also wished for more "universe-building" moments -- for example, how big is the Channel 7 parent company? Why is the Mafia a nuclear power now? The fact that there's not enough necessary exposition about the world of Astronauts In Trouble and how it's different from ours is a bit of a problem especially when shadowy elements play an important part in the story's outcome. Young does, however, inject light touches of humor here and there that relieve the tension and keeps things from becoming too serious.

The comic has two different artists: Matt Smith and Charlie Adlard. Both have different styles but, surprisingly, this doesn't affect the story. Matt Smith possesses a "Mike Mignola meets Kevin Nowlan" style, which allows for very clear storytelling and good panel composition. However, there is very little rendering, and there are no textures at all, which could benefit the book greatly. When the characters get out and walk on the moon's surface, it's little more than a white plane. There's no sense of depth. It's more of the same with the facial expressions, which repeat themselves constantly. Yes, there quite a few "talking heads" shots in the book, but they lack varied humanistic expressions. The two last chapters, drawn by Adlard, really make up for it. He adds texture, facial expressions and does better "big explosion" shots. He's grown a lot since his days toiling on X-Files comics, and he does a better job with the black and white format than Smith does.

If you love rockets or are just a big fan of space exploration and colonization, Astronauts in Trouble: Live from the Moon will prove to be a fun ride for you. It's a story influenced by both characters and actions, and it makes for a great read.

-- Yannick Belzil

Astronauts In Trouble, published by AIT/plaNETLar Comics, is currently available only through comic retailers.

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