5 out of 5

I was going to criticize what felt like a narrative gap between issues 2 and 3 – 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 follow directly on their respective cliffhangers, but between 2 and 3 it skips quite a bit and the discrepancy is sort of disruptive, however, the overall intensity and quality of Stokoe’s story and storytelling – especially in the masterful concluding issue – whisk away this concern, and if I’m bring favorable, I could justify Stokoe skipping what he did because it’s not really imperative to the tale he’s telling, and if anything, is indicative of his abilities which set him many notches above like-minded artists.

…For in this uber-detailed realm, you have your Geof Darrow’s, who excel at pinups but fail, to me, at crafting immersive tales that work well sequentially, and you have your Brandon Grahams, who love overstuffing their pages with delights but also forget to actually tell a story in the meantime…

Stokoe, though, has always managed both the pretty pictures and story, not sacrificing visual complexity for effective narration.  Perhaps owing to a manga influence, he seems forever mindful of balancing each component.

Aliens: Dead Orbit certainly isn’t an original tsle – a space crew finds a derelict ship, aliens get on board and hunt them down – but the way Stokoe pieces it together is.  The bit I mentioned him skipping is that middle section most dawdle on: the hunt and peck offing of the crew.  Stokoe’s tale focuses more on the final moments of one crew member, and is thus able to amplify his experience greatly by keeping that focus so tight.  We don’t need the other deaths in the story because they wouldn’t necessarily add anything; they’re a given.

The structure of Dead Orbit is mostly framing and flashbacks: now, after the alien attacks, and then, leading up to the attacks.  A ticking clock in the Now signifies something impending, and Stokoe effectively exposes us to what that is by issue 4’s end.  And sure, even that isn’t so much a surprise, but again, it’s the way we step through events that makes the journey so compelling: visual connections that make you want to go back and re experience the story, armed with knowledge of where it’s going.  (Which I did, multiple times.).  Issue four then breaks from the structure to show multiple timelines at once, and is a goddamn master class in visual story telling.

We should all be jealous of this dude’s abilities.  Or, like, just buy his comics in droves.