Shrapnel and Hubris

Shrapnel: Hubris #2 of 3
Created by Mark Long & Nick Sagan
Written by Nick Sagan & Clinnette Minnis
Illustrated by "Concept Art House"
Cover by Stephan Martiniere
Published by Radical
http://www.radicalpublishing.com

the three cents:
Captain Vijaya "Sam" Narayan, the star and hero of last year's Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising, is back with this new mini-series that pushes the interplanetary fight for freedom right to the door of the oppressive government's own shining Tranquility City. While the assault against the Venusian colonists begins anew, Narayan and company lead a covert attack aiming to cripple both the energy reserves as well as the respectability of the government itself, at whatever costs.
While Hubris is being written by Shrapnel creators Long and Sagan, the first series writer, M. Zachary Sherman's absence is felt. While not filled with the intensive battlefield insanity that he detailed so well in the previous arc, this issue is very thoroughly steeped in the geopolitical landscape of this war-torn future. And this is in fact a war comic, under the guise of science fiction. With this issue we cross the midway point in the overall projected Shrapnel series of series, but with the outcome of this story the odds now seemed stacked out of either side's particular favor. But the expansiveness of Shrapnel: Hubris is just incredible. Every avenue is explored fully, with a story that is thankfully not being written down to anybody. Very enveloping stuff, and with some surprisingly personal touches.
Now while the art is of course of the same house style as the first story arc, it is frustrating, the anonymity of such full bleed work being summed up by nothing more than a studio's name. How many guys and gals does it take to render these ghostly images of lunar cities waiting to implode in socio-political strife? Who is responsible for this stellar outpouring of insightful design and imaginative execution? My only actual qualm with the visuals, aside from the inability to give credit where credit is wholly due, is with the faces of the many characters. Not the most expressive, and indeed the least realistic and lifelike aspect of these soldiers and politicians and spaceships and the like. The full page spreads are especially wonderful, virtually any one of which would make for a nice poster or digital wallpaper.
War is Hell, even in futuristic space. This journey of Sam's, her seeing the dark implications of her own potential, countered by the government's realization of increasing powerlessness at its own arrogant and empirical underestimations, is rich. Allegorical? Icing on the cake. This is an epic story, nothing as crazy as a new mythology, but it has so many attractive draws to its depth and foresight. I hope more readers take the time to ingest this magnum opus in the here and now of its comic book form, before it eventually sees further life as a video game or sci-fi cable series. Because a story this massive could spill out just about anywhere. And deserves to. But comics rock, and this is a fine enough example why.