- Smith, L. Neil, Rex F. May, Scott Bieser, and Jen Zach.
Roswell, Texas.
Round Rock, TX: Big Head Press, [2007] 2008.
ISBN 978-0-9743814-5-9.
-
I have previously mentioned this story and even
posted
a puzzle
based upon it. This was based upon the
online
edition, which remains available for free. For me,
reading anything, including a comic book (sorry—“graphic
novel”), online a few pages a week doesn't count as reading
worthy of inclusion in this list, so I deferred listing it until
I had time to enjoy the trade paperback edition, which has been
sitting on my shelf for several months after its June 2008
release.
This rollicking, occasionally zany, alternative universe story
is set in the libertarian Federated States of Texas, where, as
in our own timeline, something distinctly odd happens on
July 4th, 1947 on a ranch outside the town of Roswell. As
rumours spread around the world, teams from the Federated
States, the United States, the California Republic, the
Franco-Mexican Empire, Nazi Britain, and others set out to
discover the truth and exploit the information for their own
benefit. Involved in the scheming and race to the goal
are this universe's incarnations of
Malcolm Little,
Meir Kahane,
Marion Morrison,
Eliot Ness,
T. E. Lawrence,
Walt Disney,
Irène Joliot-Curie,
Karol Wojtyla,
Gene Roddenberry, and
Audie Murphy,
among many others. We also encounter a most curious character
from an out of the way place L. Neil Smith fans will recall
fondly.
The graphic format works very well with the artfully-constructed
story. Be sure to scan each panel for little details—there
are many, and easily missed if you focus only on the text. The only
disappointment in this otherwise near-perfect entertainment is
that readers of the online edition will be dismayed to discover
that all of the beautiful colour applied by Jen Zach has been flattened
out (albeit very well) into grey scale in the print edition. Due
to the higher resolution of print, you can still make out things
in the book edition which aren't discernible online, but it's a
pity to lose the colour. The publisher
has
explained the economic reasons which compelled this decision,
which make perfect sense. Should a “premium edition” come
along, I'll be glad to part with US$40 for a full colour copy.
January 2009 