Stargazer #1 is due out May 6, 2020. — **Stargazer #1** is due out May 6, 2020.

By Zack Quaintance — It’s really staggering sometimes the amount of passion, care, and energy being put into new, non Big 2 comics these days. There is a steady flow of new indie books being made with high levels of craft in the industry right now, to the point it’s gotten hard to predict where the next great comic is coming from. The days of only paying attention to the output of two to four (maaaybe five) publishers are long gone.

Stargazer #1 is a perfect example of the state of new fantasty/sci-fi books in the industry. Polished and well-done, this new six-part series is the work of writer Anthony Cleveland, artist Antonio Fuso, colorist Stefano Simeone, and letterer Justin Birch. It’s being published by Florida-based Mad Cave Studios, which has grown quite a bit in the year or so since we ran an extensive feature about them on this website.

At its core, Stargazer #1 blends a couple of familiar ideas from recent indie comics. There’s the idea of showing us glimpsed of a group of kids in their youth — followed by a fast-forward to less-than-happy adulthoods (see Die, see Cult Classic), and there’s the idea of alien abduction (see most recently, Midnight Vista). Stargazer, however, is so well-done that it quickly separates itself as very much its own series. Writing-wise, this is an immersive read. Little character details (Kenny is always hungry!, or Mom sets out ranch sauce with pizza!) go a long way to making the world feel authentic, even as it blurs by in service of its plotting. The plotting itself is paced basically perfectly, giving this entire issue a confident feeling of suspense that will have readers moving through it quickly without feeling like the book is too light.

The real highlight of this comic, however, is the artwork from Fuso with coloring by Simeone. I really enjoyed Fuso’s work last year on the Dark Horse Comics mini-series Wyrd. He has a style that engages the eye with a sense of controlled chaos evident in both panel layouts as well as the linework. He’s not afraid to try interesting visual ideas, which he does throughout this issue, all without sacrificing reader orientation even a little bit. Simeone, meanwhile, colors it all with strong and coherent mood-heavy palettes, giving us earth tones to start with the science people in the desert, followed by an eerie purple set of shades for any visuals meant to evoke space.

In the end, what we get here is a top-tier debut issue, complete with the requisite cliffhanger demanded of such openers. Stargazer #1 won’t catch anyone off guard with new ideas or surprising concepts. No, it’s familiar ground, but the story told upon it is so well-done that I’d recommend this comic to any and all fans of sci-fi stories, with hints of teen adventure and mystery/suspense. There’s a lot to like here.

Overall: Stargazer #1 is smart and sharp-looking, a first issue that will satisfy while also daring readers to come back for the full story. 8.8/10

Stargazer #1
Writer: Anthony Cleveland
Artist: Antonio Fuso
Colorist: Stefano Simeone
Letterer: Justin Birch
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Price: $3.99
Solicit: Years ago Shae, her brother Kenny, and two childhood friends experienced a traumatic, unexplainable event that left Kenny scarred for life. Kenny commits himself to the belief that what they experienced was an alien abduction. Twenty years later and the friends have since drifted apart, but the sudden, mysterious disappearance of Kenny leads the group to reunite and discover the truth of what took place all those years ago.
Release Date: May 6, 2020

Read more great comic book reviews here!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.