Bad Idea; $1.99

Planet Death co-writer Derek Kolstad is best known as the screenwriter of John Wick, but he’s also written episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and created Kevin Hart’s Die Hart series.

Co-writer Robert Venditti has many credits, but I first became a fan of his work during his run on X-O Manowar (2012) from Valiant. What will always stand out about that run for me was that he and his collaborators (including Cary Nord) managed to thoroughly overcome my hesitancy to embrace the then-new version of X-O (I loved the original, Jim Shooter era version) with their stories. It was a distinctly different iteration that retained the key elements of the original. Along the way Venditti racked up a very impressive run on the series, something that happens so rarely in this era.

The work of illustrator Tomas Giorello also surprised me at another time I expected a bit of disappointment. Butch Guice had blown me away with his work on Chuck Dixon and the late Jorge Zaffino’s Winterworld. Giorello came onboard for the second story arc and thoroughly grabbed and then held my attention with his art. Powerful storytelling, great atmospherics.

All of the above is a long-winded way of saying this: the creators behind this series have delivered for me previously to the extent that I was willing to check out this issue no matter the over-the-top level of hype surrounding it (Kudos to Dinesh Shamdasani and everyone at Bad Idea for that marketing effort, by the way).

And I’m very glad I did.

Immediate reaction: I can’t wait to see where this goes!

Here’s their pitch:

Millions of miles from home, hundreds of ships descend into the stormy atmosphere of a hostile frozen world. On board, an army of resolute men and women brace for the coming assault.

They are an invasion force, on an impossible mission – destroy the devastating enemy weapon garrisoned below. Corporal Scott and his battalion are in the vanguard but the human forces are no match for their brutal alien adversaries. Scott’s battalion is dead within moments. He is its lone survivor. The landing force annihilated, the battle is lost.

Against overwhelming odds, Scott dares the unthinkable – cross behind enemy lines, survive the lethal landscape, evade capture by ruthless enemies, resist natural predators, face human deserters and finish the mission singlehandedly. Locked in his suit of full combat battle armor, sustained only by what he can carry, and driven by Earth’s wrath, Scott must do by himself what an entire army could not. Destroy the weapon. Return home.

The story and art immediately take on a pace that is both breakneck and epic. The story plays out from space to the planet’s surface. The scope of the action and destruction is as relentless as it is virtually all-encompassing.

Giorello’s art takes center stage and doesn’t give up the spotlight. There are several two-page spreads worthy of attention. So often they’re just an artist showing off regardless of what it does to the story. That’s not the case here. They just plunge the reader further into the story; they provide a lot of scope. He’s aided and abetted by superb colors by Dave Stewart and lettering by Tom Napolitano.

A lot of credit goes to Koldstad and Venditti for their almost minimalist dialogue and narration. With art this superb, it had to be tempting to be a lot more talky. Instead, they trusted the art team and were rewarded for it.

And so were we.

– J.C. Vaughn