Comic Book Review Orion the Hunter #1

8

Rating

Published On:2010-08-01

Published by: Independent

Author:Cliff VanMeter

Artist:Joe Querio

Colorist:Joe Querio

Letterer:Cliff VanMeter

Orion Spiral Arm Stories

Comic book review written on August 30, 2022

In This Issue of

What Else Happens in this Comic?

We could summarize, but the official teaser trailer does a great job at telling the story.

How is the Writing in ??

The Dialogue

Take a stereotypical small town USA and transplant it to outer space and you have Ore City. It sounds like an impossible pairing, but Cliff Vanmeter pulls it off astronomically well. The dialogue is a little hackneyed in that 1980s’ movie way, but solid. We get a sense of who the characters are and it moves the plot along.

Showing Versus Telling

Take a stereotypical small town USA and transplant it to outer space and you have Ore City. It sounds like an impossible pairing, but Cliff Vanmeter pulls it off astronomically well. The dialogue is a little hackneyed in that 1980s’ movie way, but solid. We get a sense of who the characters are and it moves the plot along.

The Vibe

You’ll see it mentioned several time in this review, but Orion the Hunter reads exactly like a 1980s science fiction movie with a big budget. You have all the hallmarks: space ships, dirty workers in future-gear, an overworked sheriff, and aliens.

Comic Art Review

Joe Querio of Dark Horse Comics fame gives Orion the Hunter #1 a Mike Mignola vibe. The art has a touch of the cartoon style brushed with a water color style palette. There’s a strong concept art vibe which really sells the science fiction aspect of the comic. If the art is too detailed and the reader gets lost in the finer points and starts to nitpick. Leave the art sketchy and the reader’s imagination has plenty of room to fill in what they’d like to see. A good example is the starship on page one. It looks like a traditional boat with the usual science fiction dishes and antennae sticking out of it. The ship is far enough away that Joe Querio was able to leave many of the details out. As a fan of Alien and Star Wars, my mind filled in all the Nostromo details I can’t see. Add to all of that strong facial expressions and strong character acting. If you can find the pages online, a lot happens for a ten page comic.

On the Cover

The two covers are by series artist Joe Querio and feature Orion. On the back cover, we have Felicia Lauden, Chief Constable of Ore City and two workers.

World Building

Locations

– Ore City
– Spaceship interior
– Police station
– Hammond House
– Local restaurant

Who's Who

- Marshall Geos Ah'rion Rassas rel Pen'atha, Orion the Hunter
- Chief Constable Felica Lauden
- Ronnie
- Tim-Bob Hammond
- Hankins
- Matt
- Deputies

Big Question

Why did they stop creating such a wonderful comic book?

Simply put, whoever said honesty is the best policy, obviously never worked in Ore City.

Felicia Lauden, Chief Constable of Ore City

Who Will Like

Fans of movies and television shows like Aliens, Prometheus, Serenity/Firefly, Predator, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Ender’s Game, and Pitch Black will enjoy Orion the Hunter. It’s that special concoction of post-dystopian, action, Western, real-life, and science fiction. When mixed right, stories like Orion the Hunter can really resonate with the reader.

I Need More Content like

I was pleasantly surprised to find out the Orion Spiral Arm Stories didn’t end with the ten comic pages. Years later, I found the short stories based on Orion the Hunter and the Federation can be purchased from Amazon!!

You can find Joe Querio’s artwork on several Dark Horse series like the Witcher. Dark Horse has conveniently collected many of Joe Querio’s comics for purchase all on one page.