Terralympus Volume 1 is a comic written by Stephen Kok with illustrations by Von Randal. Follow the engineer Mia as she fights, saves animals, and fixes problems on the space station Terralympus. This is a science fiction comic that takes place in space and has a decently-sized cast. The leading lady is Mia, she is a skilled engineer and fighter who is very good at what she does. She also assists in training new recruits like Hanna, who wanted to be an explorer but has ended up here. The Head of Engineering is a woman named Storm and her second-in-command is a man named Stefan who has a close relationship with Mia. The plot has us following the day-by-day of Mia and a few others in the engineering department where some interesting developments occur, some having large ramifications. This takes place in a world where humans have left earth and taken up residence in space stations for reasons that aren’t made clear. The action here is all physical with little blood and no gore. The pacing is steady with a not-too-serious tone. There are a few intense moments but overall it’s relatively calm. The dialogue is mostly conversational and it can get a bit technical on occasion which slows things up a bit. No word-heavy pages here. This is a debut comic that sets the scene with strong characters and an interesting story while providing excitement and leaving you with questions.

            The art here is in black-and-white and looks like sketches with varying degrees of polish and a particular focus on shading. Besides the occasional glance out into space or look around the space station there isn’t much in the way of scenery. The atmosphere is that of your average sci-fi show set on a ship though this has more of a “working man” vibe. The location for this comic moves frequently but it is usually a pure white background so you won’t be able to visually tell where you are. The expression level here is decent to average as these are hard and tired people. The looks are mostly of determination with some anger and annoyance, but they tend to hold near-emotionless expressions. The faces are well-drawn but due to the shading it can occasionally be difficult to see them. The violence is all physical with grapples and punches and a little blood. The action scenes aren’t too long and they flow well.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction stories starring a woman and taking place in space that feature violence and drama then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“So it’s engineering that keeps everyone alive?”

 

Physical Link: https://comics2movies.com.au/product/terralympus-vol-1-graphic-novel/

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1917428739/terralympus-a-science-fiction-graphic-novel/description

Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/terralympus/x/26236710#/

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 36

Violent Pages: 4, for 11% 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 – 3

“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 – 2

“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 – 1

“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.”