(courtesy Penguin Random House)
If really good sci-fi is all about to taking a great big, long, hard look at the dark soul of humanity, and the best of it is, then Voyaging Vol. 1 – The Plague Star by George R R Martin with art and adaptation by Raya Golden, is the mother of all deep dives.
Set in a future where humanity has seemingly risen and fallen, at least in one imperialistic form among the stars anyway, Voyaging, based on the first story from George R.R. Martin’s 1986 story collection Tuf Voyaging, takes us on a far-flung journey to the far off planet of Hro B’rana where evolution has been stopped in its tracks by a cyclical series of plagues that drive emergent species back to their base level by decimating their numbers to a crippling degree.
It seems to be a cycle as old as the planet itself – who can tell? Those with any real understanding, assuming anyone has it all, all die off without imparting the knowledge to future generations, all of whom are destined to die in the same ghastly way – and it appears something natural over which no one has any control.
However, that may not necessarily be the case with a group of “fortune seekers”, as Voyaging terms them, claiming to know that the pestilence that ails Hro B’rana may not be natural after all and could in fact be the source of great riches for them all.
What seems like a simple snatch and grab across the other side of the galaxy ends up being anything but as the group, aboard the quirkily-named The Cornucopia of Excellent Goods at Low Prices captained by the enigmatically sardonic captain, Haviland Tuf aka Noah Wackerfuss – the names alone are a delight and well worth the price of admission – finds out that while the spoils are impressively good, the cost to get them are even greater.
What follows then is a story about ego and greed meeting the harsh hand of reality and coming off well and truly second best, proof that when it comes to humanity scoring big, we are often our own worst enemy and the key to our undoing.
(courtesy Wikipedia)
Voyaging throws not only greed and hubris at us in plague-soaked quantities, but scheming and intrigue and betrayal, all of these less than stellar qualities adding up to a witches’ brew of humanity at its worst that powers the story along in fine and utterly enthralling form.
There are also cats and while they may not at first seem central to the tale at hand, they actually come into play in some quite crucial ways and have a direct impact on whether the band of intrepid hunters, all of whom are as venal and violent as one another when the chips are down, get the prize or end up as bloody discards on the great sweeping floor of human overreach.
Now, while the story is a thrillingly good piece of tension-laced sci-fi, it’s the artwork by Hugo-Award-nominated artist Raya Holden that really brings this story alive with boil-popping vivacity (and, yes, that is as gross as it sounds; Voyaging might be many things but pretty it is not, even if the artwork is sublimely, wonderfully, vividly good).
From the moment we first see our intrepid band of treasure hunters in a bar, already bickering amongst themselves in a way that suggests their mission is not destined for lasting, or even temporary success, through to the final scenes where destinies are sorted and decisions made, Golden artwork shines, beautifully evoking emotions, flawed humanity and action in ways that command attention all the way through.
Her gift for evocative facial features, for bringing out the ugliness inside on the physical features of each of the characters, only one of whom is actually worth our time, and for bringing scenes alive in a way that preferences both humanity and narrative momentum without negating either, is profound and it means that Voyaging is one of those graphic novels that shines every bit as much in its art as it does its wording.
It is, quite simply, a superlatively good piece of sci-fi storytelling on every level, taking a hard look at humanity’s foibles and frailties against the backdrop of a massive blockbuster level story that never lose its people-centric focus throughout.
There are some genuine wow amounts including when we find out what the Plague Star actually is, and while these moments stay with you, what really grabs your attention all the way is the starkly wanting humanity at the heart of the story and how Tuf, who seems like a comical discard at first, actually turns out to be the one with his corpulent head cleverly and insightfully most competently and winningly screwed on.
Voyaging is a brilliantly good piece of graphic novel storytelling, a union of one creator’s storyline with another’s sublimely arresting and emotionally evocative artwork which works to profoundly good effect, gifting us with a sci-fi story that dazzles you with blockbuster-level narrative reach, richly-formed characterisation and messaging that slides organically and impactfully into and out of the story, leaving us wondering how humanity, so weighed by flaws and imperfection, manages to ever get anything done, and even then when it does, make a success of it.
Voyaging Vol. 1 – The Plague Star by George R R Martin (story) and art and adaptation by Raya Golden is out now from Ten Speed Graphic (am imprint of Ten Speed Press)