Letter 44 Vol. 3: Dark Matter (3) - Softcover

Charles Soule was born in the Midwest but often wishes he had been born in space. He lives in Brooklyn, and has written a wide variety of titles for a variety of publishers, including others' characters (Swamp Thing, Superman/Wonder Woman, Red Lanterns (DC); Thunderbolts, She-Hulk, Inhuman (Marvel)); and his own: 27 and Curse Words (Image); Strongman (SLG) and Strange Attractors (Archaia). When not writing—which is rare—he runs a law practice and works, writes and performs as a musician. One of his biggest regrets is never personally witnessing a Space Shuttle launch.

Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque is an artist born, raised and currently living in Madrid, Spain. He has put lines in French comic-books (BD's) for almost a decade now, working for Paquet Ed. and Soleil Ed. Some of his titles are: Fugitifs de l'Ombre (Paquet), Le Dieu des Cendres (Soleil), and Elle (Soleil). He has also drawn some short stories for the American comics Skullkickers (Image), Pathfinder's Goblins (Dynamite), and Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword and Mystery Girl (Dark Horse).

What is the most unfair thing you can think of? Got it in your head? Okay, forget that because there's a worse one: There's this guy who gets paid money for coloring comic books. Right. Dan Jackson has been gainfully employed to one degree or another with the coloring of comic books for the better part of 17 years. He's done other Great Big Projects with the fine folks at Oni Press, and he's done a bunch of covers and short projects with them as well. He's a pretty versatile guy. Even writes his own Bios. Mr. Jackson lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with his scorching hot wife (see? UN-FAIR!), and two hilarious kids.

LIBRARY JOURNAL -- When Stephen Blades became U.S. president, he discovered that his predecessor Francis Carroll had found out about an alien space probe in the asteroid belt and kept it secret. Employing global economic manipulation, Carroll financed the sending of manned spaceship the Clarke on a suicide mission to investigate. Blades told the world about the extraterrestrials and the Clarke-but the resulting chaos, exploited behind the scenes by a still-scheming Carroll, led to World War III. Meanwhile, the Clarke made first contact, but the aliens' statements and motives proved cryptic. Here the crew of the now-disabled vessel discovers an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and tries desperately to send home a warning, but the aliens are preventing all outside communication. Meanwhile, war rages on Earth and the extent of Carroll's plans becomes chillingly clear. Heavy drama, high stakes, mystery and intrigue abound-not least surrounding the baby Astra, conceived and secretly born in space aboard the Clarke, whose intelligence is developing much faster than normal. VERDICT A very strong entry in the current for-mature-readers sf trend. With nudity and sex.-SR