Looking For a Good Book

The crew of the rocketship Vidar head to a desolate world in search of a missing patrol ship and discover a threat that could mean the end of all humanity.

That’s a short summation but it’s a short book.

The Shadow Planet is originally a French graphic novel that has been translated and reissued in the US by Image Comics. Author Giovanni Barbieri, who is also a screenwriter, notes that the idea for this book was originally planned as a ‘B’ movie and I think that’s really evident – the ‘B’-movie, sci-fi/horror vibes are strong. Think Alien as if made by Roger Corman.

The story is … well, it suffices. There’s nothing new here and really no surprises.  That’s part of the B movie vibe – you know what’s coming, the thrill is in the ‘when’ and ‘how.’ That doesn’t translate so well in a graphic novel. For the story, this gets only a rating of ‘2’.

What saves this book is the artwork.

Gianluca Pagliarani is the talent behind the art.  It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that this was one of the nicest books to look at since reviewing Monstress back in 2016. Yes, I liked it that much, though it’s very different in style. The art really captures the loneliness of space and the claustrophobia of the few safe havens when being in space. The art gives us more of a sense of story than the actual story.

In some regards, this is what’s supposed to happen with a graphic novel – the art needs to help tell the story. But rather than a partnership between words and art, the story relies heavily on the art.  I do wonder if the translation is partly to ‘blame’ for this.

Even if I rate the artwork a 5, that would only bring this rating to 3.5, which I would round down because I don’t think the book is recommendation-worthy.

Looking for a good book? Nice to look at but weak in story, The Shadow Planet is a graphic novel that doesn’t offer anything new other than nice art.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

The Shadow Planet

author:  Giovanni Barbieri

artist: Gianluca Pagliarani

publisher: Image Comics

ISBN:  9781534331761

paperback, 96 pages