Bud's father has taken a new job in a new state. With the relocation, it means that Bud will be going to a new school. Who knew the academy was in outer space?
This charming all-ages graphic novel begins with young Bud getting on the wrong bus. Due to a computer malfunction, a rocket-propelled bus from Cosmic Academy arrives on earth and whisks the young boy to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. As earthlings are considered dangerous and the planet earth is considered a forbidden planet to travel to, Bud, along with the help of his new friend Gort McGortgort, poses as a Tenarian exchange student until he can make his way back to his home planet.
Tenarians are considered experts at a game called zero-ball. The game a sort of cross between quidditch and basketball in zero-g. The school's winning team will travel away from the Academy for the intergalactic championships. Thus, Bud and Gort must become the school's new zero-ball champions if they have any chance of getting the young human back home without alerting the attention of school security. Too bad Gort is considered the worst gravity ball player this side of Canis Minor.
Earthling! is a great book that I am very glad I found. The writing/ art team of Mark Fearing and Tim Rummel had a quality similar to that of the great Doug TenNapel. The characters are vivid and they don't seem like a cookie cutter clone of one another. I could tell that Bud was from earth and Gort was from -okay, I'm not really sure where he's from actually, but each character had different tones in how they spoke and different mannerisms. Also, the kids are written like kids but they're not dumbed down.
In terms of the art- again I must go with the cookie cutter motif. In some comics, you have trouble telling some characters alike because the artist can't help but draw the same face on each figure they draw. Not here! For example, during the zero-ball championships, Bud and Gort are pitted against some alien foes from a race of energy based lifeforms. Though each electric creature looks like a bolt of lightening with arms and legs, incredible detail is given to each separate opponent even though none of these aliens talk or are bestowed names.
That amazing amount of detail is one of the reasons why I will read anything by Fearing and Rummel in the future, even if it's geared to an audience a lot younger than me. They made this corner of the universe a living breathing thing that made me wish this story didn't end. I hope that one day soon, Fearing and Rummel will have the Cosmic Academy bus make another stop on the third rock from the sun with more adventures of Bud and Gort aboard it.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 10 out 10 stars.
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