Review: Motherlands #1

Tabatha Tubach is a retriever. Think of her job, like her mother before her, as one of a bounty hunter, paid to capture, and bring to justice criminals across the infinite parallel strings of alternate Earths. These Earths filled with people we could have become. This is known as the trawl. In Motherlands #1 (Vertigo Comics) first contact with other worlds did not come from an alien visitor from far away, but from the next Earth over in an endless string within the multiverse. Just a couple of generations into this expanded palate of humanity, things seem similar to today, on a grander scale. Family is still annoying, some co-workers are ass holes, and criminals still get hunted for money.

This is a dark new sci-fi story from writer Simon Spurrier and artist Rachael Stott. What stands out to me most is the main character of the story, Tabatha. She is a thirty something woman, working the same job her mother did, but she is nowhere near as successful as her reality TV staring mom was. Tab wants to do things the right way, she follows the rules and has a ”˜by the book“ mentality. Her mother, was outspoken, vivacious, and hungry for attention. Spurrier“s writing introduces, in this first issue, to the dynamic that exists between Tab and her mother Selena. The fact that the two strong ladies don“t really stay in contact does not discount the tie they share. Tab followed in her mother“s footsteps“. To me, she seems to have wanted to be just like her, but the overbearing, and narcissistic behavior of Selina seems to have had a tremendous impact on a young girl who witnessed the impact of these behaviors first hand.

I“m a huge fan of the story because on top of being a nicely written sci-fi crime drama, it exposes the impact of a culture obsessed with fame. Fame for the sake of being famous. Fame to feed our ego and hide our insecurities. When Tabatha has to initiate contact with her mother, for what seems to be the first time in years, she does so because she needs help with a huge, life changing bounty. She knows her mother was the best, and still has the capability to do the job better than almost anyone, and frankly, she could use the help. Given the personal nature of who the two retrievers are trying to capture, there are a lot of old painful memories for each of them that seem to be coming up for a drink of water.

Rachael Stott is a world building artist who has an endless opportunity to create in this series. Each parallel string is a brand-new chance to show of her creativity that we have witnessed in her other works such as Star Trek/Planet of the Apes. Happiness does not begin to describe how I feel about the work she“s done in the first issue as well as what I expect as the series continues. In a particular sequence of panels, where Tabatha is chasing someone across multiple planet jumps, we can clearly see that in this multiverse, there are so many differences between the Earths. This will be fun to follow and see how it adds to the rich story.
The dysfunctional family relationship in Motherlands takes center stage for me, and it looks like it will play out very well in the upcoming issues. The year is young, but this seems to be a strong contender for best new series in my opinion. Bring on issue #2.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W) Simon Spurrier (A) Rachael Stott (CA) Eric Canete

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Bryan Spaulding

In his free time, other than reading comic books, Bryan enjoys listening to his ever growing record collection and driving his 27 year old roadster named Mingo.