The majority of us as kids must’ve had the same dream:

Going into space.

I remember from when I was five years old to the age of ten; there is nothing more I wanted to do then to just fly into the unknown. Even today I go a bit giddy when reading books on space and what exactly goes on out there. Who wouldn’t want to fly past our solar system and go into other galaxies? Sadly the chances of any of us going up there into the darkness is slim at the moment but the entertainment industry has provided us another material to keep thinking of these dreams. Some show how amazing space will be, some show how boring or dangerous it is. But sometimes someone can show us how mundane space travel will be and when we find live on other planets it won’t be as it seems. Warren Ellis has provided how space might truly be in this action/science fiction adventure.

Europa is the most fascinating moons in our solar system. It has an ocean underneath a layer of ice. So we have to think something has to be down there right? That is one of the main plots of this story as it follows a bunch of scientists and weapons experts going into the ocean of the moon. What they find and what we read about is an incredible adventure story to stop two sides of a three sided battle. One side is the scientists I mentioned, the other is a group of monitors who plan to take what’s underneath the ocean for personal gain, the third being an ancient society that has more stake in this battle then anyone else.

I’m trying to avoid most of what goes on here but there is a simple way to describe this story. It’s 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Indiana Jones. It’s an action comic more or less; but the politics and interactions with the people is pure Ellis. Each character has a personality and each has a goal or ambition in this story. But it has a snippy bunch of heroes, like Indiana Jones, and it has a villain who’s goal is world domination. It’s a nice blend of genres that make this a really enjoyable read. Sure the cast can be a bit too head strong at times; but considering this is Warren Ellis writing I am not surprised. It’s usually a trademark of his characters.

To make this feel more like a film is by the pencils of Chris Sprouse. Famed for doing Alan Moore’s ‘Tom Strong’; Sprouse brings space to life by how detailed his work is. The spacecrafts; both inside and out; to the planets around them, to the action involved; it’s all beautiful to look at. Especially towards the end where the action gets heavy and casualities start to rise. The last ten pages is nothing but explosions and a spaceship trying to fly away from it. If that doesn’t scream ‘Star Wars’ then I don’t know what else will.

Apparently this has been optioned for a film and the people who may do it have worked on comic book adaptations before. Who needs a screenplay when you got the script right in front of you? I came into this trade just reading another good but not great story. But Warren Ellis was able to show once again why he is one of the best writers in the industry. Do yourself a favor and pick this trade up. To anyone who loves action films or just love looking at the stars….this is the story for you.