By Jarred A. Luján — Vagrant Queen is back again! This particular book from Vault Comics is that special blend of character-driven narrative and plain strangeness that only a team-up like Mags Visaggio and Jason Smith could create. It’s first volume was so good that it was picked up for a SyFy series set to debut later this year. With that in mind, debuting the second arc gives 2020 real potential to be YEAR OF ELIDA AL-FEYR, and it’s all very exciting.

The world of Vagrant Queen remains a very fruitful one. I think Visaggio has handled the introduction of new concepts/characters/settings really well, while altogether maintaining the heart of the book: Elida. Elida has to be one of the best characters in the Vault stable, someone you can come back to over and over again because of how much you want to root for her. Furthermore, entering our second volume, I think Visaggio has done a pretty incredible job of making the book new reader accessible. You hear that a lot in comics, but here it really is true. While there will obviously be bits you miss if you haven’t read the first volume, it feels super minor compared to what gets set up here.

This paragraph will have spoilers. Please go to the next one to avoid any, if you’re so inclined! With that out of the way, what I love about this issue is how Visaggio really flips the entire approach from volume 1. In volume 1, we saw Elida, someone who has avoided the throne, being forced to approach that part of her past. In this volume, it seems our main antagonists want to force her to take the throne. That twist on it provides for a fresher take on a book entering its second volume, while maintaining the idea of both: escaping your past life...if you can even do that.

Jason Smith is doing some fiiiiine work on ship design. What I like most about what Smith does on these pages is how fresh and different he presents the objects in the story. Take his ships, for example, they all look wildly different from much of what else is out there. You could probably figure out where some inspiration came from, but it doesn’t feel clearly derivative of anything, not even Vagrant Queen’s first volume. As with objects, the characters and the aliens presented all hold their own unique aspect. A new character — “The Man in White” — has this unique, imposing demeanor, and so do the people he represents. Much of science fiction’s power comes from the ability to present new ideas and new visuals, and with that in mind, I think Smith is really holding down the fort in both of those regards.

I’m also a big fan of the color work done by Harry Saxon. The solid color backgrounds, which are just in general something I love in comics, are utilized super well here. The use of the reds and the oranges for the intensity, as well as the green for the mystery, really adds a layer of depth to the panels. The textures on the panels create an older feel (if that makes sense,) but one of my favorite pages was the screentones on the White Ship. All in all, that was just a gorgeous look on there.

Overall: Vagrant Queen is back and moving ahead with the same Elida we love, the same high level of art that we have come to expect, and a brand new adventure. 8.0/10

Vagrant Queen: A Planet Called Doom #1
Writer: Magdalene Visaggio
Artist: Jason Smith
Colorist: Harry Saxon
Letterer: Zakk Saam
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99
Solicit: Get ready-Vagrant Queen is BACK! Elida Al-feyr has finally managed to build a happy life... until a mysterious man in an ancient white ship shows up and takes it all away. And hey, where the hell is Isaac?

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Jarred A. Luján makes comics, studies existential philosophy, and listens to hip-hop too loudly. For bad jokes and dog pictures, you can follow him on Twitter.