Soldier Zero Vol. 1: One Small Step For Man (BOOM! Studios) Review

Soldier Zero Vol. 1: One Small Step For Man (BOOM! Studios)

"I beleeive I can flyyyy..."

Writer: Paul Cornell

Artists: Javier Pina and Sergio Arino.

Collects: Soldier Zero #1-4

Background information:

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed Starborn, a BOOM! comic about a character created by Marvel Legend Stan Lee. Well, turns out he made three of them. Soldier Zero is one of them.

That’s all you need to know.

Review:

So Stuart Trautmann was a captain during the war in Afghanistan. During that time, a land mine cost him the use of his legs. Coming back stateside, Stuart tries to deal with life from a wheelchair, averting the gaze of people who would pity him, and trying to date the girl of his dreams.

"Shut up, internal monologue!" No, YOU shut up!

That life is strongly interrupted when a living space suit, complete with weaponry and a mind of its own, falls from the sky and bonds itself with Stuart, taking his body over and allowing him to walk, run, fly and use all sorts of killy-things to hurt bad guys.

Like Starborn, Soldier Zero really benefits from its protagonist. Writer Paul Cornell avoids placing Stuart in any clichés that we would normally associate with a disabled character. He’s used to the wheelchair these days, and doesn’t resent his situation. He doesn’t revel in the fact that the Soldier Zero suit can make him walk, and actually prefers to be free of it. Stuart is at peace with his situation, he just wishes that everyone else was. It’s a great way of giving us an original take on a character, as well as giving us a realistic look at the life of someone who is wheelchair-bound.

The Soldier Zero suit is also an interesting character, I won’t give too much away about him, since it’s a major spoiler, but he develops quite a bit throughout the story. The suit goes from talking like a machine, to using a speech pattern similar to Stuart; even cracking jokes. Between Stuart and the suit, what follows is a great dynamic between the two characters as they bicker, agree on something, and then bicker again.

At the same time, though, I can help but feel that we’ve seen a character who uses a special suit in combat before. Y’know... in another Stan Lee creation... okay, fine... it reminds me of Iron Man. In this way, the whole concept of Soldier Zero reminds you that Stan Lee is really kinda old. And that saying about old dogs and new tricks? It somewhat applies here.

Aliens don't understand the "time out"
rule.

One Small Step For Man, thankfully, compensates that with some really fine art work. It’s a more serious Starborn, with realistic, less-cartoony proportions and darker lighting. It’s nice to look at, however; especially when you look at Soldier Zero’s design. Simply put, Soldier Zero looks awesome. The red-on-white suit is fantastic, and combines human and alien-looking elements. While the human faces sometimes look like even the men are wearing a little too much make-up the great character designs here make up for that.

tone here than what we’ve seen in

One Small Step For Man has a brilliant story, there are a couple of flaws, though, that stop it from being perfect. It gets a four out of five Iron Men.

****

+ Stuart and his suit are excellent characters

+ That costume looks awesome

- Stan Lee’s age is showing here

- Human faces look wierd

Alternate Option: Starborn: Beyond the Stars

A lighter book, but thoroughly entertaining.

Starborn Vol. 1: Beyond the Stars Review

Starborn Vol. 1: Beyond the Stars

Being cooler here than he ever is in
the book.

Writer: Chris Roberson

Artist: Kharry Randolph

Collecting: Starborn #1-4

Background Information:

BOOM! studios has made some excellent superhero books over the past few years, Mark Waid’s Irredeemable, for example, was highly praised.

You can imagine the hoopla when comics legend Stan Lee (Y’know, the creator of Thor, Spider-Man and a swathe of Marvel heroes) designed three new superheroes for the publisher! I can only imagine that it would have been the comic industry’s version of new toys at Christmas.

Review:

So Benjamin Warner is an aspiring sci-fi writer who is more than a little down on his luck. Imagine his surprise when the characters he thought he made up start coming for him in real life!

See, Benjamin is apparently from a distant planet where everything he thought he made up is real and coming to kill him.

Oh, he’s also prince of said planet.

There’s a fine line to writing fun superhero books- make it too dark and it becomes depressing; make it too funny and it’s hard to take seriously. Beyond the Stars somehow walks that tightrope very well, making a story that is equal parts dark and humorous. Each moment where Benjamin discovers a new one of his characters out to get him is a great illustration of this. One moment scary-looking creatures are attacking, the next, Benjamin is freaking out about how what he thought was fictitious is suddenly attacking him in the goofiest manner possible.

Benjamin himself is a surprisingly relatable character. He has aspirations early on that get, well, crushed, and his response to it is incredibly human- he comes to resent his job and is even a little embarrassed about his novel in the first place. The result is this that Benjamin feels instantly tangible. Is he a particularly deep character? Not at the moment, but he’s plenty of fun- something that has really been missing from the big two publishers lately.

The best thing about Beyond the Stars, though, is how accessible it is to kids. I don’t usually rate comics on kid-friendliness, but this one seems to have nailed it. The violence isn’t extreme, no sexual innuendo or truly scary situations- it’s a good, clean book. Thankfully, the characterisation and situation that Benjamin finds him in means that this book is equally accessible to adults. That’s a hard thing to pull off. I get disappointed when Marvel and DC very clearly have marked out books that are the “real” versions of their superheroes and “the kids version”. I don’t think is helps bring kids into comics when they know they are just getting the substitute. Beyond the Stars, though, gives kids the real hero, and any comic-reading parent will tell you that that’s something pretty special.

It’s not all smooth sailing for this collection, though, four issues makes the story feel a little half-baked, especially when the book leaves you with a non-ending. What’s more the story itself is pretty shallow; consisting mostly of “meet group of bad guys and run away) scenarios. They’re exciting situations, to be sure, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that there is a deep story happening here.

The art in this volume, though, is just as fun as everything else in the book- cartoony colours and lines look

great and bold colours throughout are distinctive and varied. It’s the kind of art that instantly looks both atmospheric and silly- somehow striking a perfect balance between the two.

Beyond the Stars is a good introduction to BOOM!’s character. It gets a three and a half out of five excelsiors.

*** ½

+ Strikes a balance between humour and darkness

+ Benjamin is a great character

+ Art is both silly and atmospheric

-Not enough in the story

Alternate Option: Soldier Zero: One Small Step for Man

Another one of BOOM!’s “Stan Lee Specials”, worth a look.