Following the right people on Twitter can introduce you to cool new things. For example, Martin Kirby’s Freelance, a sci-fi space web comic, similar to Runners in that you have a ragtag group having space adventures. Instead of smuggling, however, our heroes are treasure hunters, at least so far. Kirby is only into the second story arc and the comic only updates on Mondays. So I’m going by early impressions. Still, I like what I see thus far and I was right about Battlepug, so hopefully this trend keeps going.
Freelancer‘s main character, in the banner above, is Elena Daniels, who is trying to find her place in the universe by becoming a freelancer. However, she’s your typical screw-up who means well but is more interested in adventure than the boring parts…because her captain only has her do the boring parts. Things seem to be about to change when fate sticks her with “magic” gloves, an artifact of an Atlantis-type race called the Etherians. (No connection to She-Ra, I’m guessing.) The gloves are high-tech, but while they don’t appear to do a lot now, they’re still part of something the captain is very much into.
Captain Cass Reynolds’ father used to be really into these artifacts, which really bugged the little girl because he spent more time with them than her. For some reason (and this second arc seems to be addressing that in flashbacks) the now adult Cass almost obsessed with them now, selling off what she finds when they aren’t important. Important to what she won’t say. She’s very closed and you have to wonder why she kept Elena around prior to the gloves being stuck on her hands because she obviously doesn’t like the girl and she’s not exactly good at her job.
Jean is the opposite. He seems to like the kid and defends Elena to Cass, trying to keep the peace. He’s the closest thing to a confidant that Cass will let herself have. Elena is quickly my favorite character so it’s nice to see one of the characters on her side. Veetu is a robot that doesn’t appear in the character list but could prove to be Elena’s unwilling sidekick. I like him. Finally, there’s Junpo, an anthropomorphic panda that…is there. He hasn’t had a chance to do anything, really.
The art style is similar (but not exact) to Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures In The Eight Grade (come to think of it, Elena looks like she could be Belinda Zee’s cousin…if Belinda wasn’t a Bizarro-type clone of Kara) and that’s a good thing. I like the art, the attention to detail, the bright colors, and the characters are all fun, including the dealer that tries to screw them over for some reason. Could there be more to these gloves than we know?
Freelancer is starting out very well and I see good things for the comic. I’m trying to remember if there was any swearing but there is no graphic violence, no nudity, and if there was a swear it was once. This might be an all-ages comic, because so far I haven’t seen any proof it isn’t. At any rate, it’s worth keeping an eye on. Elena may end up doing great things…or not, but it will be fun to watch anyway.
BW Media Spotlight 