The Saturn Effect: Helena #1 is a comic written by Chris Moses with art by Christian Wolf and colors by Marco Turambar d’Alessandro. Two soldiers are sent on a mission to eliminate an influential and sinister thief. This is a science fiction comic with stealth and military elements that stars two women. The first woman we meet is Lieutenant Helena Fay, she is a woman with humor and good aim who has a questioning attitude. With her is Major Enyo, a woman who is to the point and professional. The story begins with a look at the thief in question before shifting to the ladies on their spaceship just chilling out. They soon receive their mission briefing and it’s off to work. The action here is bloody with some light gore. The pacing is steady with plenty of action sequences and a serious tone. The intensity gets high at many points throughout the story. The dialogue is usually short and direct so there are no wordy pages here. This is a debut comic that gives us a good look at the character Helena and the events she was involved in.

            The art here is smoothly detailed and has some good shading. The colors here are of the sci-fi variety with a wide range but most of them have a dark tone. For the scenery we get a good view of the stars, planets, and even asteroids, but the bulk of this story takes place inside. Large or small the location is always a spaceship from the smaller single-pilot aircraft to larger tankers. The backgrounds usually show parts of the scene which helps add weight to the big moments. The expression level here is about average as the two leads wear helmets that obscure most of their face which lowers the visible emotion. The range primarily consists of fear and determined anger. The faces have good details and showcase the feelings clearly. The violence is bloody with the weapon of choice being guns/blasters. The action scenes have good length with a high amount of panels to break up the moments.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction stories starring two women and involving stealth, unethical projects, and light supernatural elements with violence then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence, light gore.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Until we speak again, my love.”

 

Digital Link: https://www.redseacomics.com/shop/p/the-saturn-effect-issue-1-digital-edition-3jsrz

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1967380671/the-saturn-effect-alpha-1-3-helena-1/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 13, for 54% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 4

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 4

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 3

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”