3 out of 5

Credit editor Kurt Busiek for putting together a nice framework: invite SF authors to scribe short stories that take place within a shared world, pair them with comic book artists, and publish in an anthology format.  Thus was born ‘Open Space,’ which lasted for 4 prestige issues (and later a 0 issue of a “lost” story from the never-published issue #5) before getting canceled… and before finding its way, really.  The opening books from the series are probably the best, as they’re most responsible for moving the narrative forward.  I understand that the concept was to keep the shared storyline free enough that the authors could work their own agendas, but then that somewhat defeats the point; if you’re not going to add to the world, why bother making it all take place in the same universe?  And thus Joe Clifford Faust’s ‘Handshake’ in issue 1 – about the release of the ‘Smoots’ technology to the general public that allows FTL-approximating ships to be built by any Joe with the cash and equipment to do so – is a really exciting starting point, introducing us to the business-minded Etchison family and the for-the-people Brody family who, via one family member or another, populate most of the tales.  And the others that got in on this first issue (Lawrence Watt-Evans, G. Harry Stine) had the good fortune to make their mark early, as the vibe of corporations bleeding the Earth dry (and trying to do so to other planets) is used again and again throughout the series and gets old rather quickly – though, as shown in Stine’s ‘Heroes,’ or in issue #2, F. Paul Wilson’s ‘Biosphere,’ or issue #3 Matthew J. Costello’s ‘Fix-It Man’ –  a good creator can always make an old idea feel fresh.  Some pieces that actually dig into the history or workings of Astranet, ‘Open Space’s big bad company, or the Resource Management Board or the Stellar Committee spark things a bit, and there’s not really an outright bad story in the bunch here (four per issue, so 16 + one in the 0 issue from which to choose), and all are well drawn, but the majority of the remainder just doesn’t fulfill the promise of the pitch, tossing an Etchison or Brody into the mix, but otherwise acting as a separate entity.  When Laurence M. Janifer ditches even those connections in series closer ‘Let’s Go to the Tape,’ it’s rather freeing.  The story is a fun detective pulp pastiche, and it makes me wonder if we could’ve eventually gone more down that road (I guess of a traditional anthology, just sci-fi themed) as time went on… had the almighty Marvel allowed.

While I’ve qualified that none of the stories are truly bad, or lazily conceived, each issue does have generally one tale where the writer just couldn’t quite get the comic pacing down.  Barry N. Malzberg in issue 1’s ‘Land of Nod’ tries to actually use the visual medium to communicate details, but the effect is too subtle to make the story clear.  And issue 3’s ‘Home is a Hard Place,’ by Will Shetterly, is too over-stuffed with ideas, falling back on the ‘talking heads’ pacing that, admittedly, even some big leaguers still can’t avoid.  In a way, it’s sort of charming watching seasoned writers try to change gears for comics, but it definitely slows the pace down while reading.

I’m big on anthology books, but they crash and burn for me when not balanced correctly.  Without any theme, and the stories don’t feel linked at all.  Too tight of a theme, and you force your creators to think outside of the box, which often ends up leaving you with several tales that feel sorta like cheats.  Since we don’t have too many sci-fi anthologies, ‘Open Space’ might’ve been able to get away with just choosing the genre as its theme.  But Kurt Busiek had a couple great ideas for this – a ‘shared’ universe for the series, and to bring in known sci-fi book authors who might be trying comics for the first time.  Unfortunately, the universe didn’t get much developed beyond the initial steps, and some of the authors just couldn’t find the right rhythm for their stories.  There’s plenty of goodness to read here, and the first couple issues, when things are coming together, are very quality, but overall it’ll leave you more wondering what could have happened with the series had it been able to define itself (either from the start or as things went on) with a bit more focus.