Weekly Reading: Youngblood #5

Never published by Awesome Entertainment

The cover:

Title: ...And All the Stars its Pasture!

(I'm now reviewing issues of Youngblood that were never in print. The only way to read them is through the scripts and fan-made issues online. Obvious pseudo-lawyer language: If anyone who owns the rights to these issues/scripts has a problem with me linking to them or posting pages from them, let me know and I'll remove them.)

One of Alan Moore's best talents is his ability to give his characters voice; to make them sound like unique individuals. Moore is so good with language in general that it shouldn't be a surprise that he is so good when he makes special use of characters' voices.

Case in point: Youngblood #5. This issue is told from the point of view of Combat, a throwaway warlike alien character from previous Youngblood iterations. Moore turns him into a Russian-like cold warrior, whose understated style is hilarious and works perfectly mixed against the wonder of the awe-inspiring outer space setting.

Let's take a look at the issue.

First off, I am big Suprema fan, so I love this cover. Suprema as avenging Phoenix is a sight to see!

Getting into the pages, Moore set up a strict format for this issue, splitting each page into two vertical panels. It's a unique look and works throughout. In the script, Moore wanted to set up the format like the Steranko Chandler graphic novel that similarly used two vertical panels throughout. In those pages, though, the text was mostly at the bottom in blocks, rather than in the pages as captions:



I'm not sure it would have made any difference, but it is an artistic choice to note. It's also interesting because Combat's voice throughout the issue can be read as a hard-boiled, world-(galaxy-?)weary adventurer, like a noir detective.

Anyway, Combat's ship comes crashing into a city on Earth. As it does, he tells us of his homeworld, which is reported to be nice but is actually radioactive and horrible. The people are in a "constant and strangely self-satisfied state of depression."

So Combat is comforted knowing the galaxy is doomed from an entity called "the Goat." His people have a saying called Vemi-Goran: "Would you not know it? I have always said that this would happen. Is that not typical?" It's a line Moore will repeat to great use later.

He tells us he "volunteered" to come to Earth to ask for help because of his experience in Youngblood before. There follows plenty of jokes about how little he knows about Earthlings, like taking "Drop by anytime" as a sincere invitation from Jefter-Rell, a fun deviation from Jeff "Shaft" Terrell's name.

Youngblood investigate the crash and find Combat, staggering, telling them that they are all doomed from the Goat. And then he passes out, to take his "allocated rest-period." Ha.

They take him back to the House of Wax and check him out while he meets the new team. I like the remark about confusing Twilight for Vogue, which I think more than a few casual fans have done over the years.

Youngblood volunteers to help with the Goat and load up the largest Big Brother, which is then pushed to near light speed by Suprema. Combat thinks Suprema's name is a joke because in his region of space, Suprema is considered a goddess.

While in flight, Johnny gets Combat drunk and he does inappropriate things to Doc Rocket. After the mission, he'll clearly have to honorably kill himself.

They land on the abandoned Katelle homeworld. The stars are the Katellan religion, representing the spirit of hope. So, "If they are extinguished, so too is hope extinguished." You can always count on Moore for a nicely turned phrase.

And then we get a two-page view of the Goat, a gigantic monster machine that is sucking up stars. I like the way Moore set up his format of vertical panels, so when he broke it here with the two-page spread, you get a sense of the enormity of the Goat.

 

Here's how Moore described it in the script:

 
Youngblood finally understand what they're up against and lose it. Combat tells them that the Goat was built to mine minerals and it quickly grew too big and consumed the race that built it. Now it just consumes. "We cannot destroy it, divert it or bargain with it," he explains.

So they go inside it. They break through a lining to get into the inner stomach of the beast. But they are smaller than microbes to it. They exit Big Brother to explore, putting on space helmets and flying on little speeders. But they quickly realize that you can't confront a gigantic stomach that is going to eat everything.

They go back and find Big Brother covered in little robot spiders, which look incredibly cool. They blast off, clearing off the spiders, but can't figure out what to do about the Goat. It's too big and unstoppable.

Thinking out loud, Jeff suggests if it was a real goat, they could tether it to the ground or, as Johnny suggests, dig a pit for it to fall in. That gives Suprema an idea.

She flies into a nearby star's heart and speeds up the fusion process, condensing the star's fifteen-billion-year nuclear life cycle to a few short days. Once the star consumes all other elements, it will try to fuse with the iron elements. But iron can't be fused. (Thanks Mr. Wizard!)

She's turned the star into a black hole (a subject Moore has used in comics a few times before), but is badly burned in the process. There's a nice moment where Combat realizes she is the real Suprema and asks for her forgiveness for doubting her.

Big Brother makes a break from it as the black hole and the Goat try to consume one another. Moore's description of it from the script is kind of hilarious:

And that takes care of the Goat!

 

On the way home we see Leonard caring for Sally in the sick bay, his feelings for her clearly changing (as Moore suggested in his proposal). There's some nice moments as they drop Combat off on Katella. "They are young, and undisciplined... but they still have a great nobility. Vemi-Goran, of course, tells me that our old team began just as enthusiastically, only to end in bitter tears.... I hope the future will be kind to them."

And then we get an epilogue of Twilight visiting Leonard and Sally in the sick bay. Sally says that Leonard is mothering him and there's a dumb joke about Leonard being a "bad mother." Twilight leaves and Johnny and Doc want to know if Leonard and Sally are having sex. No, but "they seem friendly though," which is a start.

Another great issue! I'm going to be sad when this ends and I know there will never be any more Youngbloods to come.

Next week: The Many Worlds Theory

As always, please check out the Annotations Page for more details and references and be sure to let me know any that I missed.