Orbiter
by Warren Ellis and Colleen
Doran
(Vertigo/DC Comics, $24.95, 100 pages, hardcover; published in June
2003.)
Writer Warren Ellis's first memory dates from when he was seventeen
months old, in July  1969:
his mother holding him up in front of the TV. He was watching Neil Armstrong
step on the moon. So began a lifelong fascination with the exploration
of space.
Orbiter, his collaboration with illustrator Colleen Doran, is
not the writer's only fictionalized foray into space travel. Another
notable example is the as-yet-incomplete Ministry of Space (illustrated
by Chris Weston), an alternate-history comics series in which the United
Kingdom becomes the world leader in space exploration.
Orbiter recounts a more intimate story. Ten years ago, the
space shuttle Venture mysteriously disappeared while on a mission. Manned
spaceflight became politically unfeasible, and the space program collapsed.
Inexplicably, the shuttle returns, seemingly undamaged, with only one
crew member remaining.
A team is assembled to examine the ship and the returned astronaut.
What their investigation uncovers is stranger than anything they could
have ever imagined and might be the answer to their frustrated dreams
of space exploration.
Orbiter is fuelled by a fervent desire to see humanity reach
the stars. It is suffused with the sense of wonder that is science fiction's
lifeblood. This work's sincerity, its passionate engagement, and the
bold inventiveness of its ideas are all admirable traits. And yet, Orbiter
is disappointing.
There's a lack of conflict; the story too effortlessly moves forward.
More obstacles were needed for the conclusion to have the impact that
it yearns to achieve.
Illustrator Doran depicts the characters' emotions in much too exaggerated
a fashion, jarring with the low-key tone of the story. In general, the
artwork is stiff and the visual storytelling mundane and uninvolving.
In comics, it's important for words (story) and pictures (storytelling)
to work symbiotically. Sadly, it's not the case here. 
Originally published in
The Montreal Gazette, Saturday, 2 August 2003.
Claude Lalumière's Fantastic Fiction
is a series of
capsule reviews first published in the Saturday Books
section of The Montreal Gazette.
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