CosmoNatalya! #1: Journey to Planet X is a comic written by Dean Page with lines and art by RW Nunley, colors by Kimberly Brum, and flats by Hafid Ardi. The cosmonaut Natalya is sent on a mission to Planet X! This is a science fiction comic with exploration, Cold War vibes, and a main cast of only women. The leading lady here is Natalya Baranova, she is a doctor(physics), has two Olympic medals, and is also a pilot. It is these skills/accomplishments that lead to her selection as the sole cosmonaut for the mission to Planet X. On her journey she’ll come across astronauts and alien creatures. The story begins with the Soviet Union secretary being told about a potential mission to Planet X. He is told that Natalya is the best candidate for the job due to her resume and four years later the ship that will take her on this journey is built. The violence here is explosive and hard-hitting but there isn’t any blood or gore. The pacing is slightly slower than average as there can be a lot to soak in and words to read. The tone is that of a sci-fi show/movie from the 1950’s/60’s. There are many intense moments due to violence and present danger. Natalya speaks English with an Eastern European accent so expect improper sentence structure. There is a decent amount of narration and she also has an AI sidekick that speaks occasionally. There are a few thick text boxes and bubbles with at least one word heavy page. This is a debut issue that delivers on excitement and gives us an interesting lead in a story with twists and intriguing developments.
The art here is very detailed and drawn in a modern style with a bit of smoothness. The color range here is wide both realistically and exotically with some notably well done shading and lighting. The natural scenery we see on Planet X looks a lot like what we see on earth just in different colors. Some of the primary locations for this story are the two spacecraft, one looking much older than the other. Planet X is the most prominent place here and has waterfalls, mountains, and lush jungles. The backgrounds tend to show the surroundings like starry skies and random equipment but on rare occasions it’ll just be a gradient color. The expression level here is high as these characters change looks on a near panel-by-panel basis. The emotions here are mainly determination, shock, and fear with some anger and rare happiness. The faces have a high amount of detail so each look comes across clearly. The violence here is explosive and with rough, hard hits but no blood or gore. The action scenes tend to last at least a couple of pages with a good flow and no confusion. All of the women here have noticeably large breasts and most wear little clothing at one point or another.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like science fiction stories with exploration and Cold War vibes that star a cast of nearly all women with violence and a bit of drama then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, nudity.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“That noise…what are those creatures?”
Purchase Link: https://picturebooksproductions.com/journey-x
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cosmonatalya/cosmonatalya-1-of-3-journey-to-planet-x/description
Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cosmonatalya-journey-to-planet-x/x/26236710#/
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
*
*
*
*
*
Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 32
Violent Pages: 12, for 35% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 4, for 13% 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 – 1
“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 – 2
“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.”
