Sen gains control of the interstellar ship which could mean continued life for the people of Modia. What will they find when they make the journey to Earth? Find out in Voyagis #5 from Image Comics!
VOYAGIS #5
Writer: Sumeyye Kesgin
Artist: Sumeyye Kesgin
Colorist: Ellie Wright
Letterer: Sumeyye Kesgin
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 19, 2023
Previously in Voyagis: Plabot captures Sen and prepares to probe her mind for the information about the planet. Zakk arrives with Zorr to rescue her. Before leaving, she gets Alpha to tell her about the past. A fragment of a message fell to Modia with information about a habitable planet. The Nau were all interrogated and killed as Primoris thought they might have picked up more information telepathically. The golden disk confirms a planet somewhere with life. Primoris wants to invade it and he has an interstellar ship to get there. Alpha directs Sen to a fruit she must place within the ship. Zorr leads his people to attack Primoris.
TYING UP LOOSE ENDS
Voyagis #5 concludes the story arc and is a larger-than-average issue. The plot turns out to be a little complicated and some explanation is necessary. Don’t let that dissuade you, because it is an interesting issue and there are some cool ideas here. As the issue opens, Sen is racing for the ship. Zorr and Zakk arrive with the egg and Zorr uses it to destroy Primoris, although a piece of him lands in Plabot’s hands. Zorr dies in the explosion. Little chunks of Primoris swarm after them, and they race for the ship. The robot in charge acknowledges Sen as its commander. They are in a control module; the entire sphere is the interstellar craft.
To abbreviate a bit, Alpha is sure there is some sort of wormhole between Modia and Earth. They now know Modia is a dying planet. To attempt to go to Earth is an enormous gamble, but what do they have to lose? Unbeknownst to them, Plabot has one last task to perform. It takes the piece of Primoris and slips it into the interstellar ship.
Alpha has more information about how all this started. The probe from Earth was not the only thing to travel through the wormhole. Modian ships went the other way, and their wreckage was found in Earth’s solar system. Sen hides this information but uses much of what she knows to convince the Modians to come with her and take a chance on Earth. Many do. On the long trip, they are in hibernation and Sen spends much of her time with Joi. They are becoming closer as they spend more time together. Joi uses their shared dream world to show her Earth.
Finally, they enter Earth’s solar system, and things are not as expected. The robot realizes the reality does not match the data on the disk. The dream world now appears to have been destroyed. Joi confesses that she is actually a subatomic active memory particle, drifting along and searching for a host. She is from Earth and was part of an experiment. To make a long story short, Earth was destroyed, and she found Sen entirely by chance.
Everyone starts to come out of hibernation. Sen cannot bring herself to tell them that the voyage was all in vain – that Earth is gone. Except that it isn’t. The life on Earth, Joi and everything she knew, may be gone, but the planet itself is still there. They scan the entire planet, but there is no trace of any structures or of any sentient life. They land and look around. There are forests. Animals thrive. There is clean water.
And there is a fragment of Primoris that oozes out of the ship. It meets a surprising and rather charming end.
A DESPERATE JOURNEY
The art of Voyagis #5 is wide-ranging and full of detail. Every scene has its own distinctive features, whether it is Primoris’ lair, the dying Modia, the interstellar ship, or any of the versions of Earth. This does much of the storytelling, so even though this is a long issue with a lot of words, we do not get walls of text. The subplot of Plabot giving up its existence to get a piece of Primoris on board the ship is a case in point. On the other hand, there may also be a complicated relationship between Alpha and Joi that I could not quite parse out.
Where things get really fun is in the approach to Earth. In their shared zone, the Earth that Joi shows Sen is an idealized version of where she lived. Despite knowing the distances involved, this is what Sen is expecting to find. Then Joi shares with her a barren and desolate landscape, much like that of the Modia they left behind. The solar system looks like nothing more than several dead hulks of planets. When Earth is finally revealed, it is a glowing blue disc against the blackness of space and a promise of new life yet to come.
BOTTOM LINE: AN ENDING AND A BEGINNING
Voyagis #5 is a fun ride that caps off an ambitious and imaginative tale. The ending is optimistic and satisfying at the same time. At times, it does feel like there is almost too much story for the number of pages, even in a larger-than-average book, but it is enjoyable all the way to the end.
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Voyagis #5
Sen goes from scavenger to leader of a desperate journey to Earth!
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Writing7
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Art9
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Coloring8
By day, she’s a mild-mannered bureaucrat and Ms. Know-It-All. By night, she’s a dance teacher and RPG player (although admittedly not on the same nights). On the weekends, she may be found judging Magic, playing Guild Wars 2 (badly), or following other creative pursuits. Holy Lack of Copious Free Time, Batman! While she’s always wished she had teleportation as her superpower, she suspects that super-speed would be much more practical because then she’d have time to finish up those steampunk costumes she’s also working on.