Titan

* I acquired a copy of this arc through Netgallery*

Initial Thoughts: A really interesting read on worker's rights, capitalism, revolution and war. I wish it had been longer and the character's a little more fleshed out but it was good nonetheless!

Review:

Trigger Warnings: violence, sex, infidelity

A captivating sci-fi graphic novel that explores the horror and intricacies of capitalism in deep space through the characters of João and Phoebe.

João is a privileged Terran MNGR fist class who is sent on a mission to Homestead on the moon Titan to increase the plan't productivity. When he lands he is naive in believing he can act as some form of saviour and unite Terran management leaders and the genetically-engineered Titans, and doesn't understand why the Titans are reluctant to accept his leadership or control over them. Vigneault then expertly manages to challenge this naivety and João's beliefs in the system Terrans have created on Titan to showcase what capitalism has done to Titans.

This contrast well with the character of Phoebe, a Titan, who appears sympathetic to Terran culture and João when he is received badly. However, Phoebe is captivating with several layers to her that Vigneault pulls back as her beliefs and loyalties are routinely challenged in the story and overall I really enjoyed reading her arc.

The story manages to follow the issues of rebellion, war and capitalism well with Vigneault routinely testing the beliefs, morals and loyalties of both sides of these conflicts. However the main conflict presented here is clearly the concept of capitalism and it provides a rather damning assessment of how capitalism impacts workers, it's faintly reminiscent of Arthur Miller's ‘Death of a Salesman' at times due to this.

The artwork of this is also beautiful and manages to encapsulates the horrors of the books without making it too gory for the reader to look at.

The book does have it's issues chiefly in it's failure to fully explore the two main characters as I believe I only knew them on a surface level, but also it could have explored the nuances of the issues and conflicts it was presenting further.

Overall it was a great sci-fi graphic novel and one I would recommend to readers, however if you don't want to read about sex scenes or mass violence this may not be for you.

My full review: https://moonlitbooks.home.blog/2020/08/03/titanarcreview/