In Review: The Orville #1: Artifacts (Part 1 of 2)

Synopsis: In part one of Artifacts. When Ed bumps into his old astro-archaeology teacher, the professor asks for assistance in his pursuit of the lost fleet of the Zankon, whose systems-spanning empire rose and fell millions of years ago, according to legend. However, doing so means taking the Orville into a system so hazardous no ship has ever successfully navigated it.

The Story

While at a spacedock Captain Mercer is approached by his old professor who asks him to take up to a star system calls Cruxis in order to find the lost Zankon Fleet. But professor Lamarche’s theories concerning the Zankon’s are considered to be a bit out there by the Union who apparently thrown him out of their science division. However, Mercer out of a sense of loyalty wants to investigate and find out if the professor’s theories are true. But he gets a little pushback from Gordon who is suspicious of the Professor. Indeed, the trip into the Cruxis system is fraught with danger as no Union ship has ever successfully navigated it.

The Artwork

David Cabeza continues to get the character likenesses right and stays fairly close to the character and feel of The Orville TV series. Where he really gets to have fun though is in creating a look for a new alien race. This shows up in the form of Chalmi, who is from a planet called Saphalda. If Chalmi is anything to go by. This rase kind of resembles a giant-sized green tribble on two legs with a bird-like face. The words cute spring to mind.

Overall

David A. Goodman provides another story that we could easily see take place within the television show. I really liked Gordon’s role in this story as his mistrust of the professor turns out to be somewhat justified. We get left with an interesting cliffhanger that sees The Orville in a difficult situation. I look forward to issue number two of Artifacts, which will no doubt give us a few answers.

Check out our past reviews of The Orville, which include both the TV series and the comics.