Thunder Child: The Spectre of a Dying Planet Review
Thunder Child: The Spectre of a Dying Planet is the first in a three part reimagining of the H.G. Wells sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds. This new comic series is a joint effort from Madius and Mad Robot Comics. Robin Jones and Matt Hardy co-wrote, with the former also taking lettering duties. Art is provided by Kevin Castaniero, with dramatic colours provided by Simon Gough.
Synopsis
The crew of the HMS Thunder Child venture into a discovery unlike anything that’s ever been witnessed on this planet. Their investigations of suspected meteoric debris that’s fallen into the ocean reveals something vastly more terrifying.
From out of the oceans, the alien Tripod rises. A harbinger of destruction from another world. The Thunder Child’s crew, a motely band of humanist scientists, war-hungry militants and jaded ship leaders, find themselves scrambling to salvage and defend what they can from the marauding machines.
Review
The press release has Thunder Child billed as a “tensely enthralling sci-fi steampunk adventure drama” and it delivers on most of that. It certainly is tense, with most of the drama being provided by the clashing personalities about the ship. The hard headed military man on board is eager to plunge headlong into battle both against the pod that lands near them on their voyage, and against the machines ravaging the Thames upon their return. This puts him at odds with the idealistic couple, the Youngs, who are passengers on board the ship, as well as the extremely forthright widow to whom Thunder Child belongs.
I’m not overly familiar with the source material (something this sci-fi fan really should rectify) but from what little I do recall this certainly captures a lot of the spirit, not to mention the scale of the monstrous machines from another planet. The disbelief that anything could possibly come from Mars and that if it did it could possibly be a threat is shared, even among such disparate personalities. The first sighting of the machines by the crew is exactly as awesome (in the literal sense) as one would imagine it should be! The Tim Dowler variant cover also handles the intimidating size of the machines REALLY well.
Another thing this book does really well is its use of colour. For the most part Thunder Child is in black and white. Colour begins to creep in, first in the lettering and then on the page as a whole, once the occupants of the ship see the first vessel crash land.
(Edit: I’ve been advised that the finished book will be all colour, and I can honestly say that makes me more excited)
The only minor downfall for me was the lack of Steampunk. When I see something labelled as that I have certain expectations. While the titular Thunder Child is an Ironclad, a type of steam-powered vessel popular during the Victorian era, the majority of the hallmarks one would expect of a Steampunk story are not present here. Mrs Young wears gasp a jacket and trousers (rather than female clothing of the time embellished with buckles, goggles etc) aboard ship, and there is little evidence of more advanced (but still mechanically powered) technology. Perhaps we will see some of these aspects in the remaining issues of this series.
Overall I really enjoyed Thunder Child, and will definitely be on the look out for the second and third parts of the story.
Kickstarter
Thunder Child: The Spectre of a Dying Planet is currently funding on kickstarter. With around 10 days to go they are fully funded and currently stomping through stretch goals. These include blueprints of Thunder Child, wrap around covers and more. You can check out the entire campaign, and back to get your copy, over on their kickstarter page now.
