The idea of the 100 Bullets team writing a sci fi comic sounded strange at first, but I really shouldn’t have been worried. What they’re doing here is both familiar and new at the same time. Beyond the futuristic setting, cyberpunk dialogue, and genetically-engineered Mars explorers lies a pretty basic noir set-up.

Orson, the Spaceman of the title, is a futuristic version of Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe – a down on his luck ex-vet with a world weary outlook, brutish appearance, and an empathy that draws him out of his day to day life and into something much bigger that’s only hinted at in this first issue.

That’s not to say that Azzarello’s sci fi world is unimportant. Like all good science fiction, it’s a reflection of our modern society, complete with social commentary on our relationship with celebrities, and the ethical questions involved in tampering with life to create interplanetary explorers. The dialogue, while off-putting at first, eventually helps to create this world. And Azzarello also manages to play to his strengths by exploring the dark underbelly of Orson’s city, complete with drugs, black market goods, and drugs.

Risso’s contributions cannot be overstated. With a beautiful two-page spread early in the book he lays out a somewhat ruined city populated with many different cultures coexisting in squalid conditions. The art is moody and vivid, at times looking like a cross between Moebius and Frank Miller.

Along with the noir plot, there’s a mystery in the flashbacks of just what went wrong on Orson’s mission to Mars, and presumably how and why he ended up where he did.

This is a fantastic start to the series, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.