Dystopia
The world imagined in the comic book On Mars_ 01> The new world is definitely dystopian. On the surface of this celestial body, terraforming works are underway, and they are carried out by convicts. States have decided that criminals who have been sentenced to at least five years in prison should be sent to the surface of the red planet. They are exploited there as slaves, and many of them suffer fatal accidents or choose to kill themselves.
The convicts cannot count on even their basic needs being met. At least not to the extent we would expect. Take showers as an example. They have the right to use them only once a week – all spent in a common hall with showers. They can’t even help someone who has had an accident – the security guards could punish them for that. They are there to work and indulge in anything else – not even human feelings.
Of course, the purpose of everything is noble. It is about adapting Mars to accept colonists. However, it would be excessively costly to send well-paid workers, and the law makes the workforce almost free. Is it unethical? Well, the end justifies the means, at least for those quite high up. Besides, the convicts were against society, so they should work it out somehow, right?
A short excerpt
The first volume of On Mars_ , published in Poland by Taurus Media , contains only fifty-six pages of the comic. It is an extremely small space to expand the plot, characters and construction of the world. While the latter is fairly well presented, the first two aspects have suffered a bit from it. The story told seems interesting, but it was difficult to include a large fragment of it on such a small number of pages. So far, we only see the beginnings of a few different threads. They are definitely encouraging, but for now, unfortunately, we have to be content only with this appetizer.
As for the characters, it’s really hard to say anything about them. Even the main characters were only sketched. We can find suggestions that as the story unfolds, they will gain in depth and we will get to know their goals, characters and motivations better. However, in the first installment of the series, they are only “paper” characters.
Overall impressions
The duo of Sylvain Runberg and Gruna did a very good job of telling the story of the colonization of Mars. Despite some shortcomings resulting from the short length of the first volume, the whole book definitely invites you to read. Very few pages were able to contain surprisingly much content. The story is completed with good and convincing illustrations. The world created by the creators is vivid and plastic. The icing on the cake are the additional drawings that can be found at the very end of the volume – it is worth taking a look at them, because they please the eye.
