Space Junk

Thanks to NetGalley, IDW Publishing & Top Shelf Productions for the advanced e-copy.

4.5 stars
I loved this graphic novel.

I have never heard of Julian Hanshaw, but now I want to read his other works. I'm in love with his art style, the wistful nature of it, the use of colour and the heart of this story.

This is a sci-fi tale of a planet that is doomed. People have exhaust all resources, so it's time to pack everything up and move to a new place, and start mining that new planet. This is nothing new, it's a process and the first stage of it it's adults going first to settle and prepare the new home until the shuttles come to bring the children.
But in this little planet, two kids don't want to leave. They are outsiders, they are troubled, they are alone. Faith is an orphan living in an abandoned park. She has a weird metal plate in her head and ever since the shuttles started arriving, that plate makes little bits of scrap metal follow her around.
Hoshi is a troubled boy. He, like the others, was left behind by his parents but he believes this moving was the perfect excuse for his parents to abandon him. Hoshi has anger issues, and he has a weird fixation with chickens. I mean, have you ever seen a chicken dirt bath before? It's like a crazy dance.

These two kids are on their own but they have Mr. Uzmaki, the counsellor for the children waiting for the shuttles.

Faith and Hoshi have seen each other before, but they don't know each other. However, their relationship will change when, as with all scraps of metals, Hoshi is woken when he's dragged following Faith and her metal plate. Friendship will blossom between two outsiders and a black rescued chicken that's also an emotional support animal.

The artwork as I mentioned is fantastic. It's weird, and cartoonish, and though the background and panel design are overall simple, the flat contrasting colors make every page stand out. It's honestly the biggest reason why I'm buying a physical copy.

This graphic novel was charming. It was sweet, weird, and beautiful. It's a simple story that will warm your heart. It's about things left behind, and trusting, and friendship, and it's weirdly nostalgic though it is a sci-fi story set on a doomed planet.

The only reason I rounded my rating down to a four is because I think the ending was a bit rushed. The artwork got a little vague in some scenes. However, it's still so worth it.

If you have the chance to read it, please do. I hope you fall in love with it as much as I did.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, IDW Publishing Top Shelf Productions, for an advance copy of this science fiction graphic novel about a future where planets are disposable, and so it seems are the teens that live there.

I can't imagine being a teenager today. During my difficult years as my parents called it, I had the idea that the world was against me, but I couldn't really prove it. As an adult I see the world is against teens in so many ways. A future without a climate, or animals. Jobs that might be there, might not be there, but go into debt to find out. Inability to find places to live, banning things like TikTok, because the truth is not televised, it is sent in short videos. Cops busting the heads of protesters, and standing outside classrooms while students are being murdered. I am sure there is more, but that's enough. Adults have and continue to fail kids, and it shows no sign of changing, even in the future. Space Junk is a story about teens on a planet that is due to be evacuated, used up and cast aside, as these children feel they are, written and illustrated by Julian Hanshaw.

The planet is dying, and instead of doing the hard work of taking care of it, the people of the planet just pack up everything and move to the next one. Whole buildings are packed up and sent by shuttles, along with the inhabitants of the world, in descending order of importance it seems. Still remaining are teens and some select adults, the teens undergoing training, the adults needed to keep things going. Faith is a young woman with a metal plate in her head, and nothing in the way of fond memories about her parents, who carried her from casino to casino. Faith remember more the hostesses and bartenders than moments with her parents, and is in no real rush to leave. Hoshi is considered an oddity, and deals with rage issues. These have been sort of calmed by the gift of a black chicken from a counselor, Mr. Uzmaki. Faith and Honshi grow closer as the time of evacuation comes closer, both in no rush to leave, and finding comfort with each other, even while dealing with their problems.

A story that is both sad, and yet inspiring. The characters are well done, not futuristic whiz kids, but damaged people without the tools to deal with their problems, failed by everyone around them. And yet they are taking care of themselves, as best they can. The idea of the planet being used up is interesting, and is a good setting for the story. I liked the characters, and I liked why they felt the way they did. The art really compliments the story. Complex on backgrounds, with technology and ship designs really well done. However it is the characters that also bring this story to life. The little things, looks on the face, the marks that Hoshi makes on himself to calm his rage. Even the chicken. A really beautiful story about being young, being lost, and maybe making a friend.

Not a straight science fiction story, this is more a coming of age, finding one self tale, told in space. However this is a really good story, with an interesting plot and characters. Very well told, and quite touching. This is the first thing that I have read by Julian Hanshaw, I plan to read much more.