Review -- Adam Wreck and The Kalosian Space Pirates

Adam Wreck and the Kalosian Space Pirates
Art by Michael S. Bracco
Written by Micheal S. Bracco

Sometimes a comic simply encapsulates the heart or the medium. Adam Wreck and the Kalosian Space Pirates is one of those books.
In they're purest form comics are about kids, at least in my mind. Certainly the medium is diverse enough to allow the creation of books for adults, and that's what keeps someone like me interested. But, ultimately there needs to be comics which are the treasures of young people. They need ti be something they look forward to spending their allowance on. They need to have a story a kid can get inside and pretend they are part of the adventure.
When I was young, Batman was that sort of title. They really are more geared to an older teen audience today.
The Phantom fit the bill too.
Today young readers can still find adventures they can daydream over in titles such as Jay Piscopo's Capt'n Eli (previously reviewed here), and a great story like Adam Wreck.
Adam Wreck is the star of the story, a young man in the age of space travel . He is the son of the 'famous geniuses' Albert and Betty Wreck. You can imagine that a young boy with famous parents faces some challenges whether he's able to fly a space craft, or not?
Mix is some evil-type space pirates, and you have a comic that reminds of the Saturday morning space serials of an earlier age.
Wreck is the hero, but there are memorable characters along for the ride, like the sort of anti-hero Voric who is a rogue, but a basically good one, and the despicable Captain Lipos, leader of the pirate scum.
Michael Bracco said the story was something he wanted to do for young readers, but still hold true to his interest in scifi.
“I am a real big science fiction dork. I love to read it, watch it, write it and most especially draw it,” he said. “ For the past four years I have been working on a Science Fiction series that was geared towards an 18 - 35 year old audience. As a full time middle school art teacher, I have also spent the last seven years working with kids and talking to them about art and how it fits into their lives. A big part of how they perceive art is in movies and comics and after spending enough time with them I started to really want to write something that they could connect with, have fun with and learn from.
“Once I started work on Adam Wreck I realized that bringing it to work with me was the best thing I could do. The kids gave me feedback on the drawings and the story and they in turn got to see me making art in the real world. It all came full circle and made the process very meaningful for me and hopefully for them too.”
The art is what initially catches your attention with Adam Wreck. It is rendered in three colours only, black and white, with red added to amazing effect throughout. The art literally pops off the page because of the unusual colouration scheme.
Bracco said the use of red was something he thought would add a unique quality to the book.
“I really wanted to do something that had a signature look and that used color in a different way,” he said. “I wanted something poppy and fun that made the reader feel connected with the world itself. The spot color and the blockier, bolder drawings really felt animated to me and it was a fun art problem throughout.”
Past the colouration, Bracco's art has a 'fun quality' using simpler pencil strokes that gives it more of a Saturday morning cartoon-look, than a book based on a highly realistic style.
“My art tends to be very rendered and detailed and again for Adam Wreck I wanted to play in some uncharted territory,” he said. “I enjoyed using the simpler line work as it allowed me to do so much of the art in the computer. The gray and orange tones play a major role in shaping up the Adam Wreck universe and were just fun for me to experiment with.”
As for the storyline, Bracco keeps it light, but interesting. This isn't a story with guns blazing and blood splattering. Nor, for it's intended audience should it be. There is intrigue, but the young Wreck perseveres and triumphs. Just like any good young hero should.
“Usually my work, which is more geared towards an older audience, tends to be a lot darker and more tragic.” said Bracco. “I take a lot of inspiration from Terry Gilliam, Frank Miller, Brian k Vaughn and Luc Besson.
“In this case I got to really step outside my comfort zone in terms of story and let the kid in me out. I guess it ends up being a mixture between my adult influences and as you said, all of the fantastic Saturday morning hours spent in front of the TV.”
Bracco said the story was one that just came to him one day, more, or less, out of the blue.
“It's usually the art for me but in this case it was the story. It hit me like a brick over the head one day driving home from work,” he said. “From there I immediately started drawing out all the characters. Captain Lipos shot out of my hand, while Voric was a more exhaustive character to nail down a visual for. I think because where Lipos just had to fit an archetype, Voric needed to be a more complex character that could grow with the story and be taken into (if any) future installments.”
Bracco said the finished book is one he likes – a lot.
“It was a heck of a lot of fun to draw and write for and going through it after I finished I found myself chuckling and excited, which I think is a pretty good measure,” he said.
Bracco said he now hopes the intended audience likes it enough to allow him to let Adam wreck continue to explore outer space. One read and you'll hope to see more too.
“This book was Adam's crash course in an alien universe,” said Bracco. “If I get the chance to continue it, I really want to show The vastness of alien society and how Adam and his family would fit in. I think it could be really interesting for the family to integrate into a giant, multi planet, multi species galaxy as strangers and see how another world deals with problems like the environment, energy, war, poverty and all the things that we deal with.”
You can find out more about Adam Wreck at adamwreck.websiteanimal.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra