FREE PLANET #1 / Script by AUBREY SITTERSON / Art by JED DOUGHERTY / Colors by VITTORIO ASTONE / Letters by TAYLOR ESPOSITO / Published by IMAGE COMICS

What happens once the war for freedom is won? This is a question that has vexed humanity since the beginning. The rebel of today too easily becomes the tyrant of tomorrow, and the people who so effectively fought a war may be the least suited to rule in peace. These issues lie at the core of the new science-fiction comic series Free Planet.

As the story opens, it is a time of great turmoil across the galaxy. Three years of war with the rogue world called Aides taxed the resources and patience of the Interplanetary Development Alliance. There were other avenues to explore and another Empire to fight. Though battles would continue between Alliance and Separatist loyalists, the war was officially over and Aides a free planet.

Now called Lutheria, the newly liberated world is the first free planet in human history and quickly dedicated to the idea of unlimited freedom for all. But what does that mean on a world full of factions, tribes and zealots who all have drastically different ideas as to what freedom means? These are questions the newly formed Freedom Guard will have to answer, as they fight to protect their new homeworld from enemies within and without.

Writer Aubrey Sitterson has clearly developed a complex mythology for Free Planet. This first issue introduces a number of concepts, ranging from a religion devoted to worshiping machinery to a neo-pagan tribal system based around animals of Earth now extinct in this future setting. Most of them are barely touched upon, but the general themes are intriguing enough to make me want more. Indeed, the setting is so complex at first glance it seems more appropriate to a role-playing game than a comic. I found myself wishing for a Forgotten Realms gazetteer or similar sourcebook so I could read more about the aspects of the world of Lutheria this first issue barely explains.

The artwork is equally complex. Jed Dougherty’s character designs evoke the best art of Heavy Metal and 2000 AD. There is a definite since of grit and grime to this world, though it is unmistakably a futuristic aesthetic. This is further encouraged by the colors of Vittorio Astone, with alternating earth tones and neon shades giving a subtle since of the characters’ personalities before they ever speak. Taylor Espositio also does an amazing job, with varying text throughout the book. I particular like the dry narration describing Lutheria being rendered in file-shaped word balloons, as if the text came from a government report.

Free Planet #1 is hard science fiction but easy to enjoy. I would highly recommend this to fans of Saga or the Star Wars EU novels concerned with how the Rebel Alliance became the New Republic. This promises to be quite a comic.

Free Planet #1 arrives in stores on May 7, 2025.