VERY FINE/NEAR MINT

Where did the space heroes go to die? A major new series by Warren Ellis, the writer who reinvented science fiction in comics, in the alternate-world style of the award-winning Ministry Of Space and Aetheric Mechanics - a retro-punk "future of the past" where spaceships still belched smoke and arguments were still settled with laser pistols. 1956. Personal space flight is becoming illegal all over the world. Grounded space pilot Mary Raven has to journey to Earth's last spaceport, the island of Ignition City, to recover her dead father's effects - and discovers, there in the lawless interzone of the ramshackle settlement raised inside the ring of launch pads, that her father died on the wrong end of a ray-gun. She's not going to leave until she finds out who killed Rock Raven, but there's a lot of people who'd rather feed her to the recycling chipper first! Ignition City is an on-going color epic told in five issue series featuring the art of Aetheric Mechanics' Gianluca Pagliarani and launching with a Regular and Wraparound cover by Pagliarani, a painted cover by Felipe Massafera, and a rare Design Sketch cover by Pagliarani!

Date Available: 4/08/2009

BONUS REVIEW by Megan Byrd - Chicago


This steam punk series from Warren Ellis introduces us to a post WWII where space travel is advanced well beyond its current state, yet pilots are being forced to take a back seat due to politics (something to do with Russia and aliens? I guess?). Mary Raven, daughter of famous pilot Rock Raven, must go to Ignition City to take care of some unfinished business. Every line of dialogue reveals much about the current state of existence, from one character who can time travel (or not?) to America being ravaged by spacemen during WWII. This will take more than one read to digest, and personally, I like to feel a little more grounded after a first issue. Despite being a bit tedious, I found myself turning the last page, wanting to find out more. For a first issue, it’s not bad….but for Warren Ellis? I expect a little more. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt by picking up the second issue.

I give it 5 out of 10 Grahams