![\"Langford_Skaargred\"](\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Langford_Skaargred.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nhas funded the colonization of the dwarf planet that is in orbit about (or otherwise gravitationally bound to) the anomaly.\u00a0 Thus is born the Roche Limit colony.\u00a0 However, Skaargred\u2019s dream of a shiny, happy future has been quickly corrupted by the realities of human nature, and Roche Limit has turned into something a lot darker.<\/p>\n
At the start of the story, Sonya,<\/p>\n
a cop from Earth, has arrived on Roche Limit to look for her missing sister Bekkah.<\/p>\n As her search progresses, Sonya becomes acquainted with the seedier elements of Roche Limit.\u00a0 Primary amongst these is Alex Ford,<\/p>\n the only person in existence who knows how to make the drug Recall<\/p>\n using a secret refining process of a mineral peculiar to the dwarf planet\u2019s composition.<\/p>\n He quickly joins Sonya in her search, as Bekkah and Ford were in a relationship up until her disappearance.\u00a0 Using Ford\u2019s connections as the preeminent pusher in perhaps the whole galaxy, Sonya soon comes to be acquainted with a whole host of the colony\u2019s most lovable playmates.\u00a0 These include: Gracie,<\/p>\n the one-eyed madam with a heart of gold for women and vicious streak for men who abuse them;\u00a0 Moscow, Gracie\u2019s rival in crime,<\/p>\n who seems to be as addicted to Recall as he is blood thirsty; and Doctor Watkins,<\/p>\n a shadowy scientist who is experimenting on human subjects by sending them into the anomaly and then retrieving what is left over.<\/p>\n The whys and wherefores of this story are still developing, and I don\u2019t want to spoil too much, but it seems that there is connection between the Recall drug, Bekkah\u2019s disappearance, the collapse of Langford Skaargred\u2019s utopia, and some mysterious creatures that seem to be in touch with an intelligence that is in or beyond the anomaly.<\/p>\n On the surface, Roche Limit has all the makings of an excellent story.\u00a0 Futuristic technology \u2013 check; Gritty underworld drama \u2013 check; Dogged cop on the trail of something big \u2013 check.\u00a0 But, somehow, the whole that I\u2019ve seen so far is less than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n The characters lack originality.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that they are one-dimensional, but more like they are clones of characters that have been done scores of times.\u00a0 Sonya is monolithic in her zeal to find her sister, but I suspect that somewhere along the line she and Ford will become involved.\u00a0 And the tension between Gracie as the good criminal and Moscow as the bad one seems also familiar and a bit tired.\u00a0 Most likely, Moscow will go completely off the rails, and Gracie will come out on top as the tough and reluctantly benevolent leader of Roche Limit.<\/p>\n The verisimilitude is also limited.\u00a0 The creative team seems to want to be true to real-world physics and even include a formula and some diagrams on the cover that are associated with the astronomical concept of the same name.\u00a0 Nonetheless, in trying to be realistic, they actually undermine their story.\u00a0 They would have been better off invoking a new and unknown physics rather than trying to adapt to what is known.<\/p>\n Despite these limitations, I remain hopeful that Roche Limit will come through with a compelling story in the end. \u00a0The segment about the beings associated with (coming from?) the anomaly, the nature of the anomaly, and the back story of what Watkins is doing with the missing girls, seem quite novel. \u00a0And there is a tantalizing subplot involving two young girls who have made a mysterious discovery that is most likely linked with the anomaly. Only the months that follow will tell whether or not Roche Limit lives up to its promise, and I intend to stick around for some time and see what happens. \u00a0I hope you will, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n