We have 1000 explorable planets with this week’s “So You Want To Read Comics”. This is our weekly feature where we take a look at a single topic or genre, then give you two comic book recommendations, perfect for new readers, based on that topic or genre. This week we’re taking a look at the recent video game release, Starfield.

Starfield is the most recent game released by Skyrim and Fallout 3 developers, Bethesda Game Studios. It was released on September 6th, 2023 after a lot of hype and then quickly rose to become one of the best-selling games of the year even though it was offered for “free” to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Starfield takes place in the year 2330 and tasks the player with collecting artifacts spread across multiple galaxies and star systems. Along the way though, the game allows the player large amounts of freedom to explore and engage with the vastness of space as they see fit, from allowing the player to become a settlement manager, to becoming a space pirate, to simply hopping from planet to planet scanning local fauna and flora. Also populating the game universe are hundreds of storylines that can be followed by engaging with the large cast of NPC characters. The game currently sits with an 84 on Metacritic, meaning that it has received generally favorable reviews from critics, who have praised the games openness and unique visual style referred to as “NASApunk”. But, if all that isn’t enough to satisfy your cravings for space exploration and the stories found out there, don’t worry because comic books have your back.

Here are a couple of comic book series for fans of Starfield who want to jump into comic books.

SEA OF STARS

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Dennis Hopeless
Publisher: Image Comics

Those who have played Starfield, know that the early parts of that game are dominated by two prevailing experiences among many. Those are: being awe-struck/overwhelmed with the sheer level of space there is to explore and things to be done inside that space, and then a stressful struggle with O2 gauges, small encumbrance limits, and very little ammo. Sea of Stars has that same sort of duality. This series has a pair of main characters, Gil who’s a space trucker, and his son Kayden. The two are separated after an encounter with a space monster and are each sent on their own journey. For Gil, it’s a fight for survival as he desperately tries and finds his son somewhere in the infinite expanses of the cosmos, while for Kayden things become far more fantastical as he comes into contact with a mysterious artifact that bestows powers on him, but also gains him the attention of some not so nice people. While there are some moments that can brush up against mature themes, this series was advertised as being for young adults to adult readers. This series ran 11 issues, which have been collected in two volumes.

SOUTHERN CROSS

Writer: Becky Cloonan
Artist: Andy Belanger
Publisher: Image Comics

While the planets and areas to be explored in Starfield are many and varied, that is challenged by the variety of storylines to be found out there. While the objectives and scale of these stories can sometimes appear simple or small at the beginning, these quests can then spiral into something much bigger and far more complex than thought possible at the onset. If you like that sort of thing, may I recommend Southern Cross. This series begins by following Alex Braith as she takes a trip on the ship Southern Cross, trying to make her way to Saturn’s moon Titan. She’s on her way in order to first collect her sister’s remains, but along the way uncover answers that have been kept from her, regarding her sister’s death. It doesn’t take long for things to start growing more and more complex as the truth begins to be revealed. While the story of this series gets more and more intricate, it also cleverly switches genres as it goes, touching on traditional sci-fi trappings, to some detective noir style elements, and then some straight-up horror. This series has two volumes.

Have you had a chance to check out Starfield and what do you think? Do you have some recommendations of your own? Let us know in the comments section below.

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