Comic Review: Steam Wars #1: FCBD Special (Antarctic Press)

As you could probably guess based on the cover (and “they” say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover!) and the title of the book, Steam Wars #1 by Antarctic Press is quasi-based on a sci-fi fantasy you may have heard of a time or two…Star Wars.

Steam Wars #1, as you might also surmise, is a steampunked version of Star Wars.  Now, if you’re thinking Steam Wars is just a shot by shot re-telling of A New Hope, ala the 1998 remake of Psycho, you’d be thinking wrong.  It’s more than that.  Steam Wars #1 takes elements of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back for a clever new telling of the Star Wars mythos.

The cast of characters you might expect is present in the book.  The cleverly named nerf herder Captain Hansel Lowe and his trusty co-pilot and comrade Smokey (yes as in “the bear”). There’s also a Princess, a farm boy and a super annoying golden rod robot (although this one is annoying in a totally different way).  There’s also rebel soldiers, Shock Troopers and of course, the evil Lord Baron.

Strangely absent from the first issue, though, is the wise old hermit.  But like I said, this isn’t a straight re-telling of our culture phenomenon.  So perhaps the hermit will shows up in later issues.

Personally speaking, your friendly neighborhood jman’s isn’t so much into steampunk. I will admit, though, I do have a mild fascination with it.  Perhaps, it’s best to say, I admire it from afar.  That being said, it’s fairly clever how writer/artist Fred Perry steampunked much of what is familiar about the Star Wars universe.  Taking what’s more than familiar, from ships to characters, and giving them a fresh spin.

The book, though, is filled with unnecessarily wordy steampunk jargon that I’m not overly familiar with (ie…hegemonic shock troops, hegemonic crux control, juggernaut’s combat air patrol.  You see where I’m going here).  The wordiness is a bit of a put off, not enough for me not to finish the book mind you, but enough to hope that this doesn’t keep going in future issues. 

The art is solid, though, very manga/anime-esque as much of Antarctic Press titles tend to be.  And for sure, the character designs are both clever and original.  If you’re into steampunk, or Star Wars, or comics in general, Steam Wars #1 is definitely worth putting in your bag on Free Comic Book Day.  It may even be worthy of your pull list.