Sea of Stars #4 // Review
A father runs into greater danger as his son is confronted by something that has found its way into him in the latest chapter of the grand adventure Sea of Stars. Writers Jason Aaron and Dennis Hallum juggle the narrative back and forth between separated father and son in a pulpy fantasy space adventure that is brought to the page with sharply impressive visuals by artist Stephen Green. Once again colorist Rico Renzi’s cool shading provides a deeply atmospheric depth to the adventure that gives the story a somewhat stylish flair. There’s no great dramatic depth to the story, but the creative team brings together a fun father/son adventure into its fourth chapter.
Kadyn is losing patience. He’s having fun swimming around in space, but when he’s confronted by an exile from a foreign planet, he’s frustrated by the responsibility that he has been forced to accept. An ancient alien artifact has bound itself to him. Dalla, the exiled woman recognizes the artifact and offers to take it and the child back to the home planet she’s been exiled from...the home of her people: the Zzazteks. Meanwhile, Kadyn’s father runs into his own problems in his search for his son.
Aaron and Hallum’s novel blend of father/son adventure and pulpy space fantasy is interesting as the story glides into some major revelations about the complications which are separating Kadyn from his dad. It’s a two-generation adventure. The clever narrative split has the younger half of the duo dealing with distant cultures while his father is haunted by memories of the past in his quest for his son. The thematic balance between father and son gives the overall narrative structure a stark dramatic simplicity that makes for an enjoyable read. This is interesting given that the elements that Aaron and Hallum are exploring in Sea of Stars aren’t really all that different from elements that have appeared in pulp and pulp-inspired adventure fiction over the course of the past century. The narrative structure makes it fun even if the actual story feels like something out of the space fantasy of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
As alien cultures begin to inhabit the page a bit more, Green’s art is beginning to embrace the classic imagery of pulpy space culture in a style that feels like a more fluidly expressive version of old Silver Age Kirby stuff. The speed of action in the father’s adventure comes across blurry motion lines which serve as a sharp contrast against the dreamy fantasy of the son’s encounter. Renzi’s blues and greens paint the boy’s encounter with strange alien beings while the deeper reds of aggression paint an altogether angrier end of the adventure in the father’s end of the story.
Pulpy space adventure isn’t anything new, but Aaron and Hallum are doing a great job of bringing the adventure across in a very well-executed series that brings hauls the rarely-explored demographics of a middle-aged father and a grade school-aged son into the danger. The long-term viability of a story that splits father and son the way Sea of Stars has in its first four issues might begin to feel weak if the Aaron and Hallum are going to maintain the separation between father and son indefinitely into the future, but for now, it’s a solidly enjoyable book.
