Vagrant Queen

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Let's get this out of the way, I'm having a very difficult time not talking about the job the late SYFY show did of adapting this. I could go on and on...I don't know if I'd have liked it if I'd read the comic first, but I think I would. It captures the spirit of the book, and a fair amount of the letter. Coming the other direction, I'm pretty impressed.

ENOUGH OF THAT, TALK ABOUT THE BOOK

Once upon a time, there was a child queen, Eldaya. Eldaya seems to have had a good heart and a desire to rule her people well. Her handlers seemed all in favor of that, but some things came first. Somewhere along the line, her advisors/hanlders—as well as her predecessors—lost track of their purpose, and let the galaxy (not ours) go to pot, letting injustice and suffering grow. Eventually, this bubbles into a French Revolution-style revolt. Eldaya, her mother and some loyal people escape—for a while. They're eventually found, and some of the revolutionary forces almost get the queen, they get almost all of her staff and mother.

It's years later now, and the queen has adopted the name Elida. Elida's a mavericky, smark alecky, savanger—doing all she can to survive. She wants nothing to do with her past and is doing all she can to pretend it has nothing to do with her (and it works, there are few who have a clue about it)

Elida has a...frequent ally, I guess. He's not really a friend. He's definitely not an enemy. Think Empire-era Han and Lando, maybe. Isaac is from Earth (a planet that no one believes exists), and will do almost anything for a shot to get back there—even if it is in another galaxy.

One of the revolutionaries, Lazaro, has been hunting for the Queen since she fled her home—and after all this time, he thinks he can capture and kill her.

Throw these three into a galaxy-wide chase with Elida trying to rescue her long-lost mother from the clutches of the revolution...and you've got yourself an exciting little space opera.

HOW'S THE ART?
I don't have a lot to say about it, really. Which solely reflects on me, not on Smith. The art is quirky, vibrant—there's a great sense of motion to it. I really dug Smith's approach.

I think Lazaro is frequently depicted a bit too cartoonishly. Which is odd, as he's about as far from comic relief as you can get.

WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT VAGRANT QUEEN VOL. 1?

It was fun, with some great action. I wanted a little more depth to everything, but not much. For a little bit of fun SF adventure, Vagrant Queen fits the bill nicely. I'll be back for Vol. 2.