Engineward #1 Review
Written by CBW Staff on July 21, 2020
The perfect team for a future dystopia series. Plus, butts.
Engineward is a 12-issue series from Vault Comics by writer George Mann and artist Joe Eisma, along with colorist Michael Garland and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. This team is remarkable by themselves for their background alone. Mann, giving us Doctor Who, and Eisma is no stranger to giving life to rich, profound stories such as Morning Glories and The Death of Nancy Drew.
In the first issue, there is little to go on in terms of world-building. What is clear it the remains of a society picking up pieces and clues from where it came from while under the rule of seemingly powerful celestials. The main characters, so far, are two shanty town heroes. Ichabod, a Western-style scavenger, is doing his best to look out for Joss, a robotic mechanic and her robot friend Kreek. What little we know about them is played out through the conversation and settings in the first few pages before we move onto the starkly different world of the Celestials (composed of the signs of the Zodiac and cheeky butt shots) where opulence and luxury are clearly enjoyed at the expense of the people over which they cruelly rule.
By the end of the issue, the people under the thumb of the Celestials have had to deal with unsettled land from an old war, violent beasts, and discovered ancient technology that will undoubtedly lead us to bigger things to come.
Engineward #1 doesn’t waste any time unfolding the direction where the story will take us. Two diametrically incompatible forces are going to come at odds, and what Joss and Ichabod stumble upon may be the key to radical change. To say this is world-building is too simplistic. What we’re given is rich, but it’s quite obvious that it’s just barely scratched the surface.
ENGINEWARD #1
Writer: George Mann
Artist: Joe Eisma
Colorist: Michael Garland
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhadu
Editor: Adrian F Wassel
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 15th, 2020
Oert is an ancient myth, a fabled long lost planet where mankind first originated, then fled as it convulsed in its dying spasms. Spread across the stars, mankind struggles to survive, as we see on one benighted planet ruled by the greed of the Celestials!