‘Skyward #1’: Jump On In, the Sky is Fine (review)

Skyward #1

With exuberance, humor, and charm, the premiere issue of Image Comics’ newest offering Skyward, embodies much of what I like best about good comic storytelling.

Joe Henderson’s latest contribution to the medium, is a work of speculative fiction ideally suited to the illustrated page. It is a wonder story in the best sense of the term.

It takes a simple, but outrageous premise – an earth suddenly upended with the advent of a low gravity atmosphere – and launches us into a world of surprise and adventure, that simultaneously flirts with danger on a razor’s edge.

Imagine a Chicago where every inhabitant is required to wear either a tether or else some manner of propulsion device to avoid accidentally floating off into the blue, and you’ll see the potential.

The constant threat of tragedy is played against the absolute joy of what can be done amongst the urban jungle and its heights.

After all, who amongst us doesn’t want to fly?

Our protagonist certainly does.

Willa is a young woman with an impulsive streak and an ache for adventure. Her topsy-turvy world is the only one she’s ever known, and she yearns to explore more of it. Her father though… well, not so much. He has his own reasons for being over-protective of Willa, along with a secret that seems set to spring our story forward into the great unknown over coming issues.

Willa is every young person ever who has been determined to leave the nest and fly her own course. The metaphor is obvious, but no less effective for being so. If anything, Willa’s naivete before a world completely altered from what was known only 20 years earlier, is a canny reflection of how drastically things have changed in our own world, what with the expanding frontiers of digital technology and its many interfaces, complete with the newfound freedoms and dangers they bring.

Henderson’s story captures the exhilaration and the wonder of that perfectly, with touches of personal and technical detail, as well as a humanizing wit, that make for a great read. The only thing to hit me wrong is a tendency for a certain abruptness in the storytelling as the pages ping pong from one narrative transition or action point to another. That’s in part because of the heavy emphasis on visual narration which, while popular in today’s medium, nonetheless leaves a lot to the reader to supply for themselves.

That said, there’s something about the subject of the story that compliments this somewhat herky-jerky flow. And thankfully, veteran artist Lee Garbett more than compensates for the distraction. Garbett‘s illustrations are simple, clean, dynamic and fun – basically, they’re gold for the comics medium. His imaginative use of perspective, within, without and all around the border panels of the storytelling, beautifully captures the fascinating 3D world Willa moves within. The smart use of colors and light by Antonio Fabela caps off a simply excellent creative team for this book

Simply put, Skyward a delight to read, and I recommend doing so. As flights of fancy go, it’s got a whole world of promise.