Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Larry Young
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Release date: OUT NOW!!!
Price: $2.99

In the late 1950s, a secret moon-landing program is plagued with accidents and a murder. The promising premise of Astronauts in Trouble, however, ends up being all style and a lack of convincing substance.

There are plot holes aplenty Astronauts in Trouble #2 and Larry Young’s dialogue tries too hard to be period and edgy but ends up sounding inane. “Not gone Red, Macadam, I’ve been Red,” says Bricker, a Russian spy who for no reason spills the beans, and lets himself be carelessly shot. Clearly Communist spies are not what they used to be.

In Astronauts in Trouble #2 Bricker’s scheme makes little sense. Bricker steals a rocket to prove Russians can get to the Moon first, but it’s an American missile, so he’s just proving U.S. technological superiority. After the launch the over-the-top stereotypical, cigar smoking, military, tough guy Macadam hangs on to and climbs up the rocket’s ladder, testing the suspension of disbelief to breaking point. Mind you, if Tom Cruise can hang on to an aeroplane…..

Charlie Adlard’s uncoloured artwork has an Alex Toth feel with heavy shading and thick lines, but with an anime sensibility. Unfortunately, some of Adlard’s panels look rushed, and his faces become inconsistent as the pages progress..

If comic book creators had Ten Commandments, one of them should be, “Thou shalt not squander a good premise.” Larry Young and Charlie Adlard should read Tom Wolfe’s ‘The Right Stuff’ as penance. After all with this concept a more considered approach isn’t exactly rocket science.

Reviewer: Joe Lovece
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker