Review: The Orville #3
“That’s a ship full of assholes.” – Malloy
It’s another story where religious liberties are in question. How far do we go to protect those who have faith? The issue opens with our heroes simulating a battle between Muslims and Christians during the period of the crusades. This story progresses into a real battle of the faiths for the crew of the Orville.
The Creative Team:
David A. Goodman brings the Orville into contact with an unidentified spacecraft. They lock their tractor beam onto the ship for its own protection, but the ship doesn’t power down its engines and the engines begin to overheat. I enjoy this tale because of the philosophical questions it raises about faith and individual liberties. Mercer must make some tough decisions in this tale and there’s no clear resolution to the situation. Someone’s going to get stepped on, but who? Will the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or will the wrong people benefit from this decision? A great read with some difficult decisions to make. Great stuff includes John running into an old college buddy, who is now a crew member and the ethical questions this issue raises.
David Cabeza does his usual superb job of rendering the crew of the Orville and his depiction of crew members in medieval times stands out and makes the opening pages more interesting than your standard sci-fi comic. Highlights include how smoothly the crew of Darden’s ship blends in with the Orville crew.
In Conclusion:
My favorite stories in pop culture are ones where there are no easy solutions. Darden’s followers have developed a faith in the Krill religion in large part due to Captain Mercer’s actions. It’s now up to Mercer to diffuse a potentially explosive situation without denying people with whom he disagrees their right to believe in said religion. It’s a tension-building story of faith versus individual rights and this creative team does a great job rendering the story. ***1/2 (8.7 rating)
The Orville # 3
Writer – David A. Goodman
Art – David Cabeza
Colors – Michael Atiyeh
Letters – Richard Starkings, Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
Publisher – Dark Horse
About the Author
Kevin Given Kevin Given has studied with "Longridge Writers Group" and "Writer's Boot Camp" a speech/communications major from the University of Maine Presque-Isle/Orono sites. He has created the "Karl Vincent Vampire Hunter" franchise which includes 2 novels and 8 comic books. They can be found on amazon, Indyplanet and Kindle. For a limited time you can get digital copies of "Karl Vincent: Vampire hunter" #1 and "Files of Karl Vincent" #1 for free on Indyplanet. Kevin is producing the third novel in the series "Dracula Rising" (working title) and developing "Foul Blood" into comic book form.
