Heist or How to Steal a Planet #1 is out 11/06/2019. — **Heist or How to Steal a Planet #1** is out 11/06/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — As a reader — of novels, short stories, comics, anything — I apparently do not have an over-saturation point for well-told stories about the dangers of corporate greed. There is certainly no shortage of these stories in comics, be they near-future dystopian extensions of things we see in the real world every day, or giant science fiction projects that take familiar themes and extrapolate them deep into realms of fantasy. Heist or How to Steal a Planet #1 definitely falls into the latter category.

This is a big book with big ambitions. In the space of a first issue, it aspires to build an entire galactic status quo, endear its anti-hero character to us, and position the building blocks for what (as the title implies) will be a familiar sort of story, heist story to be exact. There’s a lot to be done in this first issue, which by taking on so much runs the risk of feeling too heavy with exposition. This book, however, succeeds wildly at all of that.

What readers come away with from Heist or How to Steal a Planet #1 is a fully-formed sci-fi world with distinct and endearing characters. They have an idea that something has gone rotten throughout the galaxy (corporate greed being excellently-tabbed as our big bad), and they know that our main character won’t be denied in assembling his team (a key ingredient for any and all proper heist stories). It’s really a feat of dense and competent storytelling throughout.

Dense is an apt word for this comic, although not in a way that feels slow or difficult at all. Heist of How to Steal a Planet is dense with ideas, dense with visual details, dense with small moments and remarks from characters that makes this an utter joy to page through. Like so much of what Vault Comics is putting out these days, this is a story that takes vast advantage of the tools in the comics medium, with writer Paul Tobin’s expertly-paced prose jumping through artists Arjuna Susini and Vittorio Astone’s panels, which brim with Blade Runner-esque imagination at every turn.

Ultimately, I came away from Heist or How to Steal a Planet #1 surprised by a couple of things. I was surprised that Vault so consistently this year has absolutely crushed every first issue it has put out, expertly balancing pace of storytelling with reader orientation. I was surprised that a heist story could put forth so many poignant ideas, and I was surprised (in a bad way) that this all had to end, starting my impatient waiting for Heist or How to Steal a Planet #2.

Overall: Heist or How to Steal a Planet #1 continues Vault Comics’ impressive trend of near-perfect new #1 issues. 9.7/10

Heist or How to Steal a Planet #1
Writer: Paul Tobin
Artist: Arjuna Susini
Colorist: Vittorio Astone
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99

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