Review: Outer Darkness #7

The Stark difference between the Charon, the ship of Outer Darkness as the opposite of Starship Enterprise the ship from Star Trek is unreal. Outer Darkness is set in Space in the Final Frontier, but primarily it is what would happen if the Starship Enterprise was run by an incompetent, backstabbing ill-begotten crew who have no concept of loyalty and led by a derelict alcoholic, who only tool the gig because he was facing jail time. There is no scientific, technological wonders on the Charon, just a ship powered by a God Engine. A literal god, and Oh, and by the way the last two Captains of the Chanor have mysteriously dropped dead. In the Outer Darkness #7 the Charon continues on its still unclearl-y defined retrieval mission to the Sagittarius Quadrant and beyond.

It opens up with a side storyÂ about Captain RiggsÂ and the man he was before, told through the tongue of the god-engine trying to tempt him. This sub-story actually manages to gives him Captain Riggs depth than we had been given before as the previous portrayal as a man very much out for himself.Â If Oscar Wilde was correct when he said life imitates art, more that art imitates life” then what does it mean when this I see so many similarities to “Star Trek: Discovery”“ ?

The main story however is the story of Sister Magdalena Antona who has been trapped in a house of evil for the last 7 centuries.Â She was trapped in the Maison Mornet a house that has been cursed ever since the tree from whence the wood that was used to build it was cut down.Â Apparently even the tree was cursed due to criminals being hung from it branches back in the in late 1600’s

Afu Chans“ penciling, coloring, and inking, gives me the f`ing creeps. This issue in particular is really pushing a ” you should get the heck out of dodge, while you still can” vibe. That I’ve never really noticed before with Outer Darkness. Those snapshots of people get plucked from nowhere, and those foreboding monster over its prey panels are absolutely fantastic, and I wished they had considered them for the cover instead.

Going forward I feel like Outer Darkness may found a winning format with shorter story structure, that should definitely peak the interest of executives looking for good source material.

Side notes: Outer darkness is a place referred to three times in the Gospel of Matthew (8:12, 22:13, and 25:30) into which a person may be “cast out”, and where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.

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(W) John Layman (A/CA) Afu Chan