Spaceman, Deluxe Edition

In the slums of a flooded urban wasteland, a little girl goes missing and ends up in the hands of Orson, a kindhearted but simple-minded outcast eking out a living by salvaging old machine parts. Recurring flashbacks reveal that Orson was one of a handful of Cro-Magnon men created by an abandoned government space program for the purpose of off-world labor. Soon Orson, who wants little or nothing to do with most society (and vice versa), finds himself at the center of a televised manhunt led by the morally bankrupt media, the girl’s dubious celebrity parents, criminal opportunists, and a ghost from Orson’s dark past. Frequent collaborators Azzarello and Risso, the team behind the award-winning 100 Bullets, construct a bleak and eerily believable near future brought to life by distinctive yet sometimes garbled dialogue and Risso’s stylish command of line and shadow. However, the trendy and low-tech world ends up being more provocative than the plot itself, which over the course of nine chapters scarcely develops as it dashes towards its conclusion, never quite finding its dramatic footing or reaching its full potential. (Nov.)