Advanced Review: Reasonably Priced Comics #5: Voyaga

As Book One of writer Brandon Barrows’ intriguing saga of Voyaga comes to its conclusion, it is wonderful to reflect and realize how this out-of-time sci-fi character has grown during his jungle adventures among the primitive and superstitious Nahsa people.

The life and times of former astronaut Dean Kirkland continue in fabulous and gripping fashion under Barrows’ pen. Part John Carter, part Tarzan, part Twilight Zone, this unique journey by man to — well, nowhere keeps the intrigue alive as Kirklandcontinues his journey through a world he never made.

The two greatest emotions squeezed from these black and white panels by Barrows are anxiety or curiosity – What is beyond that horizon, how did the world become this way? – and survival – Is there anything to drink or eat, that will eat me? It is the thrill of discovery that a lot of similar sci-fi scripts from both indies and pros have lost. Even the Star Trek franchise failed when they tried it with FOXTV’s Enterprise.

What was lost there is contained in Voyaga – in surplus!

As our story unfolds, Kirklandis now seen as somewhat of a folk hero to the Nahsa, who revere and cloth this sleeping beauty. But, as Foghorn Leghorn used to say, there is indeed a fox in this hen house. And how Kirklandovercomes this challenge as well as meets the need of his curiosity of the immediate past and the vast changes over his world is documented in this tale.

As usual, Ionic’s gorgeous art is reflective of the script’s mood and brings both the passive moments (and there are many herein, but that is not a bad thing in this instance) and moments of action (Dean battles a mutant crock, for example) to vivid life!

It has been a pleasure as a reader and reviewer to watch “Voyaga” the character grow, and the same is true of this wonderful comic!