Zeta Galaxy Outlaws #1 is a comic written and illustrated by Kenneth Laster. Tex Wyatt works for the rangers, catching outlaws and putting a stop to unionization. This is a sci-fi cyberpunk comic with Western elements, drama, and a pair of leading ladies. The first woman we meet is Tex Wyatt, she is a member of the rangers and she works for a large corporation. Tex has a cybernetic arm and eye. The second woman we meet is the outlaw Vega Corazon, she is infamous for battling against the corporations and she is skilled in combat. This story begins with Tex Wyatt flying to a planet where she delivers a speech that encourages employees to not unionize. This speech isn’t well-received and she is pelted with soda cans, both filled and empty. This takes place in a cyberpunk world where corporations seem to have a lot of control. The violence here is physical and destructive with no blood or gore. The pacing here is steady overall with the occasional slowdown and a space western kind of tone. The intense gets high due to violence and danger. The dialogue has a decent amount of back-and-forth and some big words with intelligent conversation. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is an exciting and intriguing debut issue that stars two women on opposing sides in a cyberpunk world.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed modern style with thick outlines and good lighting. The color palette mostly consists of dark blues and pinks with some orange and yellow as well. This being a cyberpunk story most of the scenery is skyscrapers, billboards, and cloudy skies. There isn’t a main location as the different perspectives and character changes lead to different places like a downtown, a spaceship, a factory, homes, and boardrooms. The backgrounds can be bright and blurry with some shine and glare on top of the immediate surroundings as well as the solid and gradient colors. The expression level here is a bit above-average as we’ll see a number of different looks. The emotions on display here are sadness, anger, confusion, disappointment, happiness, and smugness. The faces are well-drawn and unique show the different expressions strongly and clearly. The equipment has Western vibes from the pistols and the use of lassos. The violence has the same vibe as well with gunplay and physicality. The action scenes come in bursts and on rare occasions you might get confused about how they got from one panel to the next.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like sci-fi cyberpunk stories that star two black women on opposing sides while featuring Western elements, drama, and violence then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“You couldn’t have finished it first?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/disasterlaster/zeta-galaxy-outlaws-1-an-anti-capitalist-space-western/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 8, for 33% 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 – 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 – 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.”