Alcanite, the material that enables faster-than-light travel, is dwindling. Stockpiles are running low; new sources haven’t been found. When that happens, the galaxy will undergo ‘The Hard Switch’ from interconnectedness to isolation. Everyone is scrambling to secure their futures; the law is powerless.  Haika, Ada, and their cephalopod engineer Mallic, try to eke out a living in the chaos preceding the Hard Switch. 

After their last gig ends by discovering they’ve been hauling a container of dead people, rescuing the alien child Hodge, the crew discover the clues left by a lost alien race that might lead to a future where interstellar travel is no longer determined by Alcanite–provided they survive the crime lord embarked on the same objective. 

The Hard Switch is a science fiction comic published by Avery Hill Press. Owen Pomery is an English comic artist, whose other works include Victory Point and British Ice (published by Top Shelf Publishing). Pomery’s artwork is striking, with vivid colors in defiance of science fiction’s usual fixation on shadows and darkness. It’s a welcome change to see color reenter the world: of late, I believe that technology and art of the last twenty years has largely eschewed it (with exceptions such as the iPod ads of twenty years ago). 

Off the top of my head, I would say that Moebius would be an obvious influence: the same sort of colorful science fiction art. Unlike Moebius, whose artwork is loopy and bulbous, even if they broadly share the same color palette, Pomery employs straighter, rigid designs for his world, particularly the spacecraft that populate it. My best comparison would probably be Ligne Claire of Edgar Jacobs or Herge: simplistic character designs combined with extraordinary backgrounds. It’s a testament to the capabilities of what hand drawing can do. 

The character’s concerns stem from pursuing a possible means of interstellar travel that is not dependent on Alcanite, one that can offer freedom to everyone in the galaxy. It’s a forlorn, perhaps foolish, hope, but one with tantalizing possibilities. 

Space Opera, as a genre, deals with found families (see the works of Becky Chambers), and The Hard Switch is no exception. Ada and Haika are an excellent pair, going through a number of increasingly dangerous and illegal jobs, while the universe around them spins towards collapse. Malic, their crusty cephalopod engineer, is an interesting twist on the idea of aliens: octopi are known for their intelligence, yet haven’t reached the recognition in fiction as, say, Vulcans. Hodge is an alien child rescued from certain death, who possesses considerable skills useful for the spaceship’s operation. 

The story is an interesting blend of two science fiction standards: post-apocalypse and space opera. Obviously, inspiration is drawn from contemporary environmental concerns (such as “Peak Oil,” in which all the easily extractable oil in the world is depleted, leaving industrial civilization hanging by a thread) extrapolated to the largest degree possible. It’s a combination that surprisingly hasn’t been touched on (the only other comic that does that would be Simon Spurrier’s Coda series, which blends heroic fantasy with post-apocalypse). I appreciate playing with tropes, especially if they’re done in a way that makes me wonder why they haven’t been done before. 

Furthermore, The Hard Switch employs the trope of exploring high concepts from the people on the very bottom: Ada, Haika, and the rest are working-class people trying to suck what little they can out of the emptying bottle of the galaxy, unconcerned with the larger pictures and involved with the urgencies of their own lives. This is not the starship Enterprise: this is a couple of friends with a van. They possess the action skills and resourcefulness to survive in a difficult world that is slowly turning violent but are not the prophesized liberators of the galaxy.  Instead, the protagonists of The Hard Switch are working stiffs trying to outrace the collapse of the galaxy. They stumble upon a chance to make things better and take it, even if out of a sense of desperation rather than heroics, where change comes from the bottom up. I hope that Pomery continues the story, which I believe would be an excellent addition to Space Opera and comics in general.