Comic Book Review: Space, MN

Comic Book Review: Space, MN writing and lettering by Shawn DePasquale, pencils by Bruno Oliveira, inking and colors by Chandran Ponnusamy.

Space, population 502 (and falling) is a struggling small town within easy driving distance of Minneapolis in Minnesota. It used to have a higher population and prosperity but those days are long gone. Officer Duncan “Donuts” Harris moved here from New York City precisely to get away from the stresses of big city policing. He’s been here a couple of years and settled in. But changes are coming. The MAGIC corporation wants to build their headquarters in this sleepy location, which means jobs and income. And crime. Duncan just wasn’t ready for what kind of crime.

The trouble begins for the Space police when some kids are caught fighting in an alley. A couple of them were messing with a cat that looked half-dead, and one objected, things escalated from there. Duncan and Officer Barr (a bit of a screw-up) break up the fight.

Back at the station, the sheriff’s back from his medical leave, and the Space police are finally going to join the computer age, but in the middle of the set-up, Lee, their computer guy gets an urgent call from his mother. The next thing they hear from him is a phone call that ends in a scream. He’s been stabbed to death, apparently by his own mother.

To make things more bizarre, Lee’s corpse is stolen by an imposter ambulance, and his mother is killed by them crashing into Barr’s police cruiser (he’d been drinking.) Her corpse later vanishes from the hospital morgue.

Meanwhile, the mayor has been taking meetings with a representative of MAGIC who gives everyone but her the creeps. Even her reporter husband doesn’t trust the guy. And certainly his corporation seems to be behind some of the strange events.

This graphic novel, meant to be the first in a series, is a blend of cop show and science fiction that has the feel of “prestige TV.” (The closest thing is the Fargo TV series, but that wouldn’t come out for another three years.) Several subplots are woven together, and the volume ends with little resolution.

Good: I like the small town setting, in modern Minnesota. There are moments of genuine dread. The “diversity inclusion” is handled pretty well. In the early going, Officer Barr is an interesting screw-up, a legacy police hire who abuses his position for alcohol and sex. Oh, and having the town named Space so our protagonists get to shout “Space Police!” is amusing.

Less good: There’s a lack of subtlety in the presentation. Moments that should be creepy are ludicrous instead. There’s no way people would not have caught on to MAGIC being bad news considering the way their representatives act. (Plus the fact that their minions specifically mention they’re from MAGIC, repeatedly, a dead giveaway.)

I’ve had to infer a lot from the back cover and my own logic, since it’s not presented in the story itself. Space is waay too small to have its own full police department, even if there are relatively few officers. (Perhaps it was meant to be a town of 5,002?) The presence of a “sheriff” would normally indicate this is a county-wide operation, but no, “county” is a separate entity, and this sheriff is just the head cop of Space.

Plus, there’s no sequel out or announced, so the ending is unsatisfying.

Content note: Gore, animal abuse, murder, needle to the eye. On-panel extramarital sex (no genitals), partial nudity (when seen from the front, the woman has a bra, when seen from the back, she doesn’t), alcohol abuse.

This one could have used a good editor, or some other way to tighten up the sloppiness. There’s the bones of a good series here, but the execution just isn’t professional enough. Recommended mildly to Minnesota fans who collect local memorabilia and folks who like the combination of cops and science fiction.