Here’s one more friendly reminder to pre-order Ken Garing’s Planetoid #1 from Image Comics. Planetfall Final order cut-off is monday, so stop by your shop or pick up the phone today and let them know you want in on this deep space odyssey. You first heard about the book here on iFanboy, and we’re eager to help lead the charge in making this one of the most successful indy titles of 2012.
If you’re new to the story, Planetoid is an account of grizzled Silas, a space pirate marooned on an inhospitable chunk of rock in deepest space. Before his first day is up, he’ll tussle with a rugged industrial wasteland, some nasty lizards and a giant mechanical leviathan. Then there’s the sentient populace to contend with.
As a special treat, writer and artist Ken Garing has dispatched these (unfinished) preview pages from Planetoid #3. At this point in the story, Silas discovers a downed spacecraft and becomes the reluctant leader of a burgeoning human settlement nestled amongst the wreckage. What begins as one rugged space pirate’s tale of survival will ultimately expand to a broader examination of refugees in chaos. We’re pretty sure there’ll be more scary robots too.
Also, meet the new blue cover boy.
Planetoid #1
By: Ken Garing
Price:$2.99
Diamond ID:APR120419
On Sale:June 13, 2012Silas, an ex-soldier turned space pirate, finds himself stranded on a mysterious planet in alien territory. As he explores the long-abandoned industrial ruins of the planet’s surface he will have to fend off rogue mechanical creatures, roving cyborg militias, and a hostile alien military with a bounty on his head. Silas will have to rely on resourcefulness and bare-bones survival tactics in order to stay alive and ultimately unlock the secrets of a planet where survival is a luxury and escape an impossibility.
Planetoid #2
By: Ken Garing
Price:$2.99
Diamond ID:MAY120622
On Sale:July 11, 2012After crash-landing in a vast heap of space junk, wayward space-pirate Silas now journeys on to an area of the planetoid, known as “The Slab”. It’s rumored that human tribes eke out a living on this endless surface of fabricated metal… BUT, so do gangs of sadistic robots! Silas will have to gather information and find allies in order to make a stand against the larger tyrannical forces that control the planetoid.
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I’m really digging the influx of sci-fi books dropping nowadays. I checked out Prophet because of y’all, and i gotta say, that book is my Saga. I’m in love. Can’t wait for Planetoid!
Looks cool. Has anyone read Old City Blues?
*raises hand*
https://ifanboy.com/articles/review-old-city-blues/
Sweet. It’s only $8.99 digitally so I was thinking of getting it.
Looks and sounds like it’s trying to be Prophet, but with robots instead of gross, fleshy alien creatures. I find it really weird that Image let this through with all of the similarity. Maybe it’ll turn out to be different, but it sure seems oddly similar.
Not that similar at all.
It’s been around concurrently with PROPHET.
https://ifanboy.com/articles/spotlight-planetoid-1/
There might be surface similarities but it’s no different than having two superhero books.
Cool. I was just going based on the preview paragraphs. I think Prophet is the best thing at Image right now so I’ll definitely check it out. They do seem to have a similar aesthetic. (not in a bad way)
@Conor Superhero books are a different genre entirely where similarities are so common it’s almost silly to talk about them. With creator-owned stuff, I think it’s slightly a different story…er a different set of criteria.
Well I guess I’m trying to say that without the strictures of having superhero conventions to work within, a creator owned piece of work has potentially more options when it comes to characters, plotting, and all the stuff that goes into making a story good. There’s more choice and fewer conventions limiting one to seeming like another comic. Hence my initial hasty judgement of Planetoid as a Prophet ‘rip-off’. But if great minds do think alike then when I read this book next week I’ll be so sucked in i won’t even think about Prophet until I get to the back page solicitations reminding me to buy Prophet.
In talking to Ken, it’s basically just one of those strange coincidences. He started work on Planetoid before the Prophet relaunch was announced. From what I’ve seen, the stories start off in a similar place but then diverge into two very different journeys. Different worlds and different characters. Comparisons are inevitable, but I genuinely enjoy both books and feel that I’m getting something unique out of each one.
@jkilbane: I don’t consider superheroes to be a genre. They are character types that can be told in adventure stories, crime stories, love stories, mystery stories, sci-fi stories, etc. To me, Image publishing two superhero adventure books with super strong alien main characters–say, GLORY and SAVAGE DRAGON–is no different than publishing too post apocalyptic type sci-fi stories–PROPHET and PLANETOID.
@Paul sounds good. So is it out yet? or do you just have a lucky preview copy?
@Conor I see your point about genre. It’s a complex topic covered in some comic text somewhere no doubt. But, I was just getting at the types of limits you inherently place on yourself by choosing a superhero character type. Say you tell a love story, detective story etc but you happen to make the lead a superhero. Now compare that story with attempting to write without the lead as a superhero and i think you’ll understand where I was going.
It would certainly seem that a superhero character type alters whichever genre your story falls into (i.e. it’s a love story with superheroes, sci-fi with superheroes). But it seems like we’re getting into semantics and that tends to be unproductive
The first issue started as a Graphicly exclusive, which is what led me to do the Spotlight Conor linked above. Not long after, Image Comics took notice of the book and decided to pick it up. I’ve been keeping in touch with Ken Garing in the time since. I haven’t seen the full issues beyond #1, but I can say with confidence that it doesn’t go in the same direction as Prophet.
http://graphicly.com/kgar-comics/planetoid/1
Personally, while I too was taken by the immediate ‘Prophet’ comparison, the more I think about it (and more issues of Prophet come out), the more Planetoid’s world style reminds me more of BLAME! instead.
But that’s okay, cause the world has lots of room for completely bonkers science fiction worlds/stories.
Looking forward to this. Thanks for the head’s up, Paul!
Can’t wait, looks like another exciting series from Image who look to continue a great run of new sruff.
that would be stuff, not sruff!
I think I want to read a book about the blue frog monkey thing…
Should I be worried that this site is “determined” to make this title a success? It shouldn’t be the role of a genre site to push a title onto readers due to some predefined agenda, and could make one question the validity of their reviews.
Well, we’re promoting it because we like it. I read the first issue knowing nothing about it or the creator. I enjoyed it, so I decided to share it with our readers. That’s why we’re here.
What’s a “genre site?”
The site is called iFanboy. They clearly talk about the things they personally enjoy. Did you really come to a site named iFanboy looking for completely objective information?
I’d be more worried about the opinions of a website promoting something that they didn’t personally like.
why are the printing so few if they know the are going to be popular
This is the only digital comic I have bought to date and did so because before Image picked it up, that was the only available format and it was/is really good, was happy to hear Image picked it up and look forward to the series, a great example for creator owned titles breaking through and the digital medium working as an excellent gateway source. I’m not anti-digi just prefer print. Downloaded this via my Droid Razr w the mini HDMI to standard HDMI and used the phone like a remote to turn the pages as I read it on a 37″ plasma, was a cool way to try out the digital format. Good stuff Ken Garing!