Wandering Star

It may be obvious from the look and from the art that the book was originally self-published.

But the art is good. And the writing is pretty amazing. Professional. Progressive and ahead of its time. She writes relationships - complex relationships - well, too. It’s fascinating how she wove how people felt about Earth-born people into the story.

The people feel real. You begin to be interested in them and care about them.

But it did tend to get to be fairly long story. Maybe something I shouldn’t have tried to read cover to cover all at once.

And for someone who seems to be non-religious, she sure talks to God a lot.

But overall, it was an interesting story. I liked it.

I grew up on independent, self-published comics, so I probably read Wandering Star in my day, though I don't recall doing so, so this was a fresh, new read for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The story is told by Casandara in retrospect, about her time aboard the ship, the Wandering Star, and her work in fighting int he intergalactic war, but it is more than that. It is making friends, and learning to work with people that are different than you are.

Wonderful story.

Indie comic artistry at it's finest! Collected here for the first time are all 21 issues of Teri Wood's "Wandering Star". A Forward and an Introduction give us a lot of backstory of the making of this comic and it's history.This is pure space opera and I loved every minute of it. The art is rough and raw in its pencilled 1990s indie style, but it is quality and once you immerse yourself in the story you forget about modern sleek computer-drawn comics. The story is typical: a warrior race works its way around the galaxy taking over planets and turning the inhabitants into slaves with mind control devices. Earth has newly joined the Alliance and the story starts with the President's daughter attending the Academy. The story contains just about everything you could possibly want from an adventure in space. There are side stores to keep each issue fresh and the book reads brilliantly as one large cohesive unit. Teri is a talented storyteller and her main characters are lovable. The book ends with a reproduction of the original issue #1 that she made in her garage. This was really fun to see how her art changed dramatically and where the hints of her overall story started from. A must read for collectors of this genre.

Cassandra Andrews, the daughter of Earth's president, is the first Earther admitted to the Galactic Academy. She had few friends there, but did get along with Madison, Elli, and Graikor. They made a team opposed to the clique lead by Mekon. They were out on the Wandering Star (a spaceship) when the Bono Kiro attacked. Wandering Star is Cassandra's retelling of the events of the war and how the outcome was achieved. There is plenty of emotion, action, and intrigue to keep the reader flipping the pages. The story is not new, but Teri Wood does a very nice job in telling it. If you like SF with a heart, you are likely to enjoy the Wandering Star.

One of the oldest self-published comics out there collected in its entirety. It's obvious at first glance that this was produced in the 80's, not that that is a bad thing. Wandering Star follows Cassandra Andrews, the president of Earth's daughter as she enters the galactic academy. While there, aliens invade the Galactic Alliance and we see the war through Cassandra's eyes. The book is very introspective and deals more with the psychological aspects of war more so than the actual war itself.

Thank you to the publisher for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Which leads to this caveat: I read a pdf version and had trouble seeing the dialogue which may have affected my experience though I try to filter that sort of thing out from my opinion.

Apparently this graphic novel series was a ground breaking series at the time it was original released, one issue at a time. I confess that I've only recently started reading graphic novels out of curiousity. So the historical impact of this series would be lost on me.

From my newbie perspective in this day and age of story telling, I found it rather slow in pacing. I liked that our heroine didn't fit any female stereotypes. Which were especially narrower at the time. Perhaps that's why it was a big deal then?

I got more than halfway through it but the pacing of the story was too slow to keep straining to read the dialogue. It didn't seem like there was going to be any real climactic end to it either.

All said, it's not a bad story. The line art style was interesting. So I give it three stars.

'Wandering Star' written and drawn by Teri Sue Wood is a reprint of the series from the early 1990s. This includes all 21 issues.

It's the future, and Casandra is the daughter of the President of the United Nations. She is sent off to school at the Galactic Academy and realizes that Earth isn't the center of the universe after all. She also finds herself in the middle of a galactic conflict against a race called the Bono Kiro, who are bent on subjecting the entire universe to their rule. She has her odd group of friends and a ship called the Wandering Star, but can she really make a difference?

The story is told with a framing device with an older Casandra. The art is rough and black and white. The lettering is a bit stylized in places and can be a bit tough to read. In spite of the art and lettering, I really loved this story.

At 468 pages, it's an epic space opera, but the personal side is heartfelt and poignant. It's about the kind of friends you make when you are young, and the way you feel at the loss of them. I'm so glad that Dover reprinted this and that I got a chance to finally read the whole thing.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.