Zeb Larson reviews Southern Cross #2…
Day two on board the SOUTHERN CROSS’s five-day voyage to Titan, and the mysteries are already piling up. Like where has BRAITH’s cabin-mate disappeared to? Just how many people have died on board the ship? And how many of those spirits are still haunting the dark corners of the SOUTHERN CROSS? The plot thickens as BRAITH starts making connections, leading her through doors that should have been kept shut.
Yeah, there’s something definitely off about the Southern Cross, and Alex gets to see some of that in this issue. Is it the crew, all of whom come across as kind of weird? Is it the gravity drive that everybody keeps talking about and which keeps malfunctioning? Or is it the improbable number of coincidences, especially regarding Alex’s roommate Erin. This issue is an excellent example of atmosphere building, balancing plot, context, new questions, and insights into the crew, and it makes for a strong follow-up to a strong opening issue. I will be avoiding major spoilers in this review, so feel free to read on.
Alex wakes up to discover that her talkative roommate is missing, though her clothes were left out on her bunk. She tries to get some answers from the captain, but he brushes her off amidst greater concerns with the gravity drive. Eating in the cafeteria doesn’t yield any answers either, though she does talk a bit with one of the crew, Lon. Back in her room, Alex discovers that Erin was working for Zemi on an accidental death, and it just so happens that the case file is for her sister Amber. This, combined with some unpleasant revelations about the previous occupants of her room, harassment from Kyril, the gravity drive, and reading through the file are making Alex more than jumpy.
More and more, the Southern Cross is like a checklist of things that will drive a person over the edge. Are their people who vanish without explanation? Check. Crew members who can’t seem to offer straight answers? Check. A tragedy that weighs on the conscience of the protagonist? Check. Labyrinthine geometry and enclosed spaces? Check. There’s even a mysterious noise coming from the gravity drive that is steadily bothering Alex. Is this going to be a story about the supernatural, or is this a story about madness? Could it be both? Balancing the two of those is a hard thing for a writer, but Cloonan pulls it off.
I had high expectations for this series after its opening issue, which sold me very quickly on the premise. This issue sustains that promise. Alex continues to be engaging as a protagonist, in part because she seems believably flawed. Cloonan does a good job in giving the audience just enough information without giving us too much. We learn bits and pieces about Zemi, life on Titan, and the names of a few crew members. Yet she also leaves us with questions, like how Alex knows the symbols on Kyril’s fingers, and Amber’s cause of death. It doesn’t hurt that the book is great to look at. The art for this series is fantastic: a retro, ‘80s conception of life aboard a space ship, but with an especially gritty flavor. It’s like the “space truckers” design of Alien was taken to its next logical step.
I’m completely sold on this book, which promises to be one of the great horror series of 2015. This is well-worth your time.
Zeb Larson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5&feature=player_embedded&v=ONsp_bmDYXc
Originally published April 8, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
