SPACE JOB #1/ Story by DAVID A. GOODMAN/ Art by ALVARO SARRASECA/ Colors by JORDI ESCUIN LLORACH/ Letters by MAURO MANTELLA/ Published by DARK HORSE COMICS

Space. The new frontier. These are the voyages of the SS George H.W. Bush. Their crew’s objective? To minimize the damage done by their captain, try not to kill each other and get transferred to a better ship as soon as possible. All except for incoming First Officer Danny Sheridan, who is determined to whip these stoners and slackers into shape.

I wasn’t expecting much of Space Job #1 beyond a few clever riffs on a certain space trekking show. This sort of comedy has been done to death by Red Dwarf, The Orville and Other Space. Heck, even Star Trek itself has done this sort of thing with Star Trek: Below Decks! I didn’t think it was possible for anything unexpected to be done with the formula.

I am, for once, quite pleased to be wrong.

Writer David A. Goodman, who penned the famous Futurama/Star Trek crossover episode “Where No Fan Has Gone Before” manages the impossible and strikes gold. He does this largely by emphasizing his characters over the science-fiction setting. It is a fine distinction and one that makes all the difference, along with a few novel twists on the usual space opera formula I shall not spoil.

The artwork proves equally amusing. Alvaro Sarraseca has a gift for rendering amusing faces reminiscent of Kevin Maguire, which perfectly suits Goodman’s manic dialogue. The colors by Jordi Escuin Llorach capture the drab banality of the office environment perfectly, while still suggesting a sci-fi sheen. The letters by Mauro Mantella are crisp and readable.

Fans of Star Trek and comedy sci-fi will likely check this one purely for the pedigree of writer David A. Goodman, who was a writer on both Enterprise and The Orville. Space Job should have much broader appeal, however, and will be enjoyable to anyone who enjoys a good laugh. It boldly goes where no parody has gone before!

Space Job #1 releases on February 8. 2023.