I was quite underwhelmed with this one. The story starts off confusing regarding the characters and why they hate each other so, the reasons for being on the planet, and why they are stuck there.

The story moves very fast with nothing being explicitly stated as to what the actual problem is with the two female characters (miscommunication perhaps). It’s a very high-stakes action, life or death with both characters trying to outsmart the other while attempting to get to their downed ship.

Ultimately I think this story needs to be longer, it was way too short for the interesting situation these characters were placed in.

2.5 stars.

**ARC provided by Abrams Comics via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

So yeah, I just read a bunch of the reviews and a lot of people are saying how this book was confusing. Let me ask you this, how many whippits did you do before reading this? I did three and I was still able to understand what was going on. Either put down the aerosol can before reading or try to build up a tolerance. Holy, I’m turning into a life coach over here.

Anyways, in this simple and easy to understand story, our main gal is named North. She’s this big deal scientist who’s discovered this miracle cure thingy but needs this flower from another planet. She’s also stuck up and not the best at making friends. Then there’s Parrish who is the expert on the planet’s hostile conditions. She’s a jerk and is in love with another crewmate named Fletcher. There’s an unnecessary fourth chick and I don’t really know what her deal is. Typical redshirt I guess.

So these four chicks go on an expedition to this planet when their ship collides with an asteroid and crash lands. North gets out of her pod and the whole place is an inferno. The fourth crew member is deader than dead, Fletcher’s pod is full of smoke, and Parrish’s pod is pinned down by a girder. Being the high-and-mighty person that she is, North decides to save her own skin and bail. Leave the others for dead. Stone cold North, stone cold. So Parrish is rightly pissed! She eventually escapes but can’t save her partner Fletcher. Hell hath no fury like a woman left for dead bro. One time I went to this potluck with this girl I was seeing. It was super lame, people were just talking about traffic, so I bailed. Holy shit, the tongue lashing I got after that one. Man alive! I could only imagine the blood curdling rage she’d have for me if that potluck was on fire and I skipped outta there. Ya toast North!

Now North is trying to reach this escape shuttle that’s like 150km away. She’s got to get there first because, get this, the shuttle only fits one person… Didn’t we learn anything from Jack and Rose on the Titanic? #1 rule of ships: as many lifeboats as there are people. If there were more lifeboats, Jack and Rose would have had dozens of lil’ grandkids running around and North/Parrish wouldn’t be in this predicament. So the two of them are racing to the escape pod in a battle against the hostile elements of the planet and each other. Woman vs woman, woman vs planet, planet vs woman, you know, all the standard themes.

Was this perfect? Nah, but what is? I need to work more on my glutes so I’m not one to nitpick too hard. I liked it, and in the end, that’s all that counts.

Anyways, that’s about all I got. Adios amigos!

The review copy being black/white is a bit disappointing, but I tried not to let it impact my views.

The story starts mid-action. We see North's ship crash into the planet and her begin her journey to locate the escape pod. This journey takes her through the planet's dangers. Apparently, Black Star began its life as a screenplay, and I can that influence in this book. The travels of an unfamiliar MC through dangerous environments is something I think would catch my interest more in a film format. After a while, we discover that North isn't the only survivor. The story then has some flashbacks to set-up the dynamic between North and Parrish. As the MC, North is set-up as being the hero, but slowly the story reveals that may not be the case. I enjoy this trope, but I can't help but thinking this book didn't nail the execution. Overall, Black Star is enjoyable but a bit lacklustre story-wise.

Positives
The art is well done, but I cannot say it blew me away at any point. I only took one screenshot whilst reading it, which is substantially below average for a book where I like the art.

The characters, although not particularly developed, where pleasingly diverse. I can't be sure in a black/white book, but I would say the majority of characters were POC. There's also a lesbian relationship which drives quite a bit of the background story.

Negatives
The plot is a bit bare-bones. The characters are on a mission to locate a flower that is very important for unspecified reasons. I would say it's a MacGuffin, but although it's important for the set-up it doesn't drive the plot. It's just there. The ship crashes and then the survivors are in a race to get to the emergency shuttle first. There's friction between the survivors, but mostly the plot hangs on the race to the shuttle.

The characters are not well-developed. Even North is a bit one-note. Again, I think this might have worked better on the big screen.

i honestly got lost and had to search for inner meaning after completing this book cause it had such weak plot that made me think is it enough for publishing a whole novel on it without anything to remember it with.

I want to start this off with the complete insanity that the "rescue" ship is only built to handle one person. Like I get the odds are grim just generally in this world but I feel like that's insane like assuming everyone made it out of the crash, how does a crew make that decision of who to send back.

But once you get past the lack of forethought on what are we going to do if things go down. This story is action-packed from beginning to end, it leaves you on the edge of your seat the entire read. Because up until the last page you really don't know how this is going to turn out

As I was reading I really ended up feeling like this was a commentary on humanity, and how it is easy to put your survival over everyone else

•Character development- 2☆
• Story Plot- 2.5☆
• Side characters- 2.5☆
• Flow of the story- 4☆
• Overall - 2.5☆

It was hard to follow the story on this one. I feel like it started in the middle with very little background as to how she ended up crashed on the planet and why she was being pursued by her commanding officer. I also think not getting full colored pages is a detriment to reviewing. I'd have to read more of the series, if there is more.

Ahhhhh. So I loved the cover and the concept. But I felt like I was missing a lot. I was confused by the end wondering what I missed. I didn’t particularly care for either character and all of the potential just didn’t grow enough for me to care about the end “battle”.

The artwork was in black and white but will print in color. I think Black and White looked better. The plot is two astronauts go to a dangerous planet to find a cure that will help millions but get stranded and have to get to a shuttle built for one. Not anything groundbreaking or unique. Characters felt like they could be switched with anyone and would have the same story. Felt a little long. Have a feeling it will be a Netflix movie. The ending was the best part.

Eric and Arielle have crafted a dynamic fast-paced and truly messed up in the best sense story with this SF thriller. I literally was holding my breath as the two scientists battled the planet and each other to see if either could survive and reach the single shuttlecraft in time!! Cinematic and compelling and a wonderful part of the Megascope collection!

Black Star is a good debut sci-fi survival story, with a lot of potential. The beginning was quite slow for me, with some awkward inconsistent communication during the contextual flashbacks. The action in the first half of the book also struggled to communicate what was happening between panels.

However, I became very invested Parrish and North's dynamics right around page 36, where they have their first real suspenseful "interaction" (a distanced and mostly psychological interaction). North is not a likeable character and I like that. It is a pleasant change of pace to see a flawed character constantly be confronted by her hubris and see how she resists throughout. North and Parrish were both very nicely fleshed out and had a good weight given to their motivation and psychology.

Overall, this was a good debut. The art was nice and I was impressed with some of the interesting paneling, despite some of the action scenes becoming confusing. The survival was tense, the flashbacks in the beginning muddled the plot. I would be happy to read other works by this author and see other works by this artist.

The perfect lockdown read--a tense, engaging puzzle that hooks you into rereading it the moment it's over. Looking forward to more from Eric Anthony Glover and Arielle Jovellanos, who are clearly distinct new voices in sci-fi and graphic novels.

An excellent, edge of your seat tale of space exploration, greed, and the instinct for survival that drives every human. I know several reviews have said they found the story confusing but I don't think it is at all - a tea of astronauts are on their way to an inhospitable planet in search of a plant that cures some kind of deadly cancer. terrible accident occurs and two crew members that hate each other are the only survivors, crashed miles apart on a planet that is out to kill them, and must find their way to the emergency vessel that will allow ONE of them to return home safely. Action ensues. Very well crafted and nicely drawn. I had an ARC copy from Netgalley which was in black in white, I can imagine it would be even better in full color!

I was not a fan of the main character. She was extremely unlikeable, leaving her crewmates to die and emotionally manipulating her rival. It would be one thing if North was set up as a charming villain protagonist, but it’s clear we’re supposed to see her as the good guy. This unlikeability killed the tension for me as I didn’t care if she succeeded or not. The unique setting was completely wasted. The characters are on an alien planet yet their only real threats come from each other. Where are the sentient man-eating plants? Where are the acid spitting monsters? This book could have been set on a jungle on Earth and not one thing would have needed to be changed.

An ambitious science fiction story with a lot going on, reminiscent of earlier sci-fi stories about astronauts grappling with philosophical questions as they figure out how to survive as things go wrong (think Interstellar, Sunshine, etc.). While the plot doesn't hold together as well as it should, it shows promise for the writing team and suggests more good things to come from them.

This book has a LOT going for it! The cover, for starters, is a vibrant calling card to sci-fi lovers. The female cast is empowering and refreshing. I enjoyed several elements of the drama of the story.

Though the art was not bad, it was not memorable either. I felt some scenes lacked consistency and flow between the next panels.
Perhaps in a final volume that is donned in color and a few changes might garner 1-2 more stars from me. But for now, I give this story a 2/5.

Read more graphic novel reviews at www.graphiclibrary.org.

Two astronauts fight against a harsh environment and each other after their ship collided with an asteroid and crashed on the planet’s surface. Harper North, the lead scientist, and the team’s survival expert are the only survivors. The ship’s emergency shuttle crashes around 100 kilometers away, so it’s a race against each other and the deadly summer sun and acid rains to see who can get to the one-person shuttle first. The team came to this deadly planet in search of a special flower with properties that can help an unknown sickness on Earth, but the tragedy of the crash and loss of the rest of the crew bring out the worst in North and her surviving shipmate.

This story really needed some more set up. Why do we need this flower? There were some key pieces of information revealed in the book’s summary that weren’t all on the pages in the story. The crash is also extremely abrupt. Within a page, we go from cryo sleep to crash landed, and we learn more about How North got out of the wreckage through “flashbacks” that are incomplete - North continues to replay certain key events through her visor, which apparently records everything she sees. There was a lot of leaps at the very beginning that could have had more panels of illustration to explain everything. Despite the rocky start, the survival portion and race to the shuttle was very intense and not predictable. If the amount of detail was spent in the beginning to set up everything, this would be a fantastic story.

​This story has some intense moments with some fairly violent scuffles but isn’t bloody or gory. There is some language.
​
Sara’s Rating: 6/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

This science fiction graphic novel about interstellar survival contains a cast of strong, flawed, female characters, centered around North and Parrish, who fight for survival against the elements and each other on a hostile planet after their ship crashed during a retrieval mission gone wrong. The artistic style and use of panels was interesting, but at times could be confusing if read too quickly. This copy is in black-and-white, but will later will be published in colour which I think will enhance the artists style.

I received an advance review copy of this graphic novel from NetGalley.

There are a few things I really like about this book, however there were several issues with the ARC which I have not run into in the past.

Firstly, the cover is absolutely brilliant. Readers will see this on the shelf and will immediately be compelled to pick it up to see what it is all about.

Second, I am thrilled with the fact that the Author chose to make this book with solely female characters. I don't remember ever seeing an all-female graphic novel before. It is unique.

Third on my list of comments is that the interior of the advance copy was only shown in black, white and grey. The novel that will be released for sale will be in full colour and even though I really liked the illustrations, I believe I would have rated it higher if I could have seen it in colour.

My fourth and final comment again has to do with the fact that I received an incomplete copy of this book. I had a difficult time following the story since much of the dialogue was missing.

Keeping in mind that the finished product will be much better, I am rating this as ,3 out of 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have been in a real science-fiction mood recently so took the opportunity to read this upcoming graphic novel.

Unfortunately I don’t feel like I could enjoy this one because the story was so confusing. I couldn’t figure out what was going on from panel to panel and although there was a lot of drama, there was no suspense because it felt incoherent.

This is a case where I enjoyed the illustration style but the story was just not well explained. I would pick up another book by this author but this just didn’t work for me.

1 out of 5 stars!

Black Star is a sci-fi graphic novel about interstellar survival. Featuring a cast of all female characters, we narrow in on two: North and Parrish, and their battle to survive the elements on a perilous alien planet after their ship crashes, and each other. Black Star is a flawed, but gripping read. The preview copy I received to review is in black and white, though I would be very curious to see how much richer the story would be upon release in colour.

Wow, that was one wild ride. I really enjoyed this graphic novel. I think it was well-pasted and action-packed. I didn't want to put it down. I just needed to find out who was going to survive. Now it was a bit odd that the rescue shuttle only fits one person when there was a whole crew that was going to this planet. I loved the way the story was told but I do wish it was a bit longer. I wanted to know more about why they had to get this flower. I also wanted to know more about the planet they were on. With that being said I loved the journey through this world because it really showed how unstable it was. I just kept thinking if this is the planet now I definitely wouldn't want to be there during the summer. The characters aren't exactly likable but I was fine with it.