Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Joe R. Lansdale & Mark Alan Miller
Artist: Piotr Kowalski
Colourist: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Editor: Daniel Chabon
Release date: 21 October 2015
Price: $3.99

First of all I have an admission to make. This is the first comic book in several years. Despite being a voracious reader in my youth, life took over and comic books have been neglected. So it was with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension that I approached The Steam Man #1. And I am delighted to say I was not disappointed.

The Steam Man of the Prairies first appeared in dime novel form in 1868. Written by Edward S. Ellis it is considered to be the first American sci-fi novel and The Steam Man himself is probably the first appearance in print of a robot, although that term was not coined until the 1920s.

This reincarnation of The Steam Man #1 features captivating Steampunk graphics and borrows heavily from H.G. Wells with invaders from Mars in walking machines. The Steam Man‘s inventor has pulled together a crew of disparate characters to man his fighting machine and although at this stage there is only time for thumbnail personality sketches, I suspect that they will develop well over future issues. The initial threat to The Steam Man #1 and mankind in general appears to be the Martians but it is soon clear that a blood sucking Vampire called The Dark Rider and his cronies, the Moorlocks are the real problem.

The artwork by Piotr Kowalski is proficient and the plotting and writing from Joe R. Lansdale & Mark Alan Millerleft made me keen to find out what happens in the next issue of The Steam Man. All in all, a good start to my re-induction into comicdom as I could have asked for!

 

Reviewer: Steve Weller
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker