All good things must come to an end, but thankfully not without an extra special climactic issue! Satellite Falling‘s ending has been a year in the making. Time to say goodbye!
Writer: Steve Horton
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Publisher: IDW Publishing
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
The master plan stands revealed, the cards are on the table and the race is on to stop a deadly plague before it wipes out every alien in known space!
Why does this book matter?
Steve Horton has created a really cool science fiction world any fan of the genre should check out. There are clever sci-fi ideas thrown in and great characterization of Lilly, its protagonist. It’s also about fighting for those who are different, which makes the narrative feel very progressive.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
Nice use of depth in this panel.
As far as endings go, Horton hits this one out of the park. Not only is Lilly’s story wrapped up, but also the story around her satellite home. Even the band of ruffians who joined her on her mission get interesting wrap-ups in the form of a montage showing where they are now. Along the way, Lilly gets to save the day more than once and there’s some good relationship bonding going on too.
Martin Morazzo takes over on art this issue and does a great job. Morazzo’s strength is with spaceships and gadgetry which are detailed and look legit. Characters look accurate too, and when a lot of them populate a panel the detail never falters. There’s a great bit of comedic timing Morazzo nails involving a doctor robot’s reactions towards Lilly.
What the hell was that and why did it happen?
It can’t be perfect can it?
Unfortunately this ending issue feels rushed, with characters outright saying things to get their story wrapped up already. One such grievance occurs when an orphan boy rushes to tell Lilly her aunt and uncle can’t take him in. Lilly says she’ll take him in, and thus wraps up the orphan’s story and also sets up the idea of Lilly being a parent. Characters that banded with her two issues ago get endings, which are well done, but since we’ve only known them briefly these scenes seem unnecessary. Due to the brevity of things wrapping up one has to wonder if Horton will ever explore this world again.
Brevity is a reoccurring issue while reading this comic, starting with how Lilly gets out of her ex Eva having her dead to rights with a gun pointed at her. Inexplicably some gizmo floats over and takes Eva out. This certainly turns the tide, but I have no idea what that thing was aside from a little deus ex machina to move things along. Later, Lilly and her partner are somehow saved–no explanation how they got out of that one–and are thrust into seemingly random battle. This ends about as quickly as it begins, leaving you at a loss for what the heck is going on. The fact that this leads to a Phantom Menace-style ending with everyone happy and gathered around further stresses the forced nature of the issue.
Is It Good?
While there are satisfying endings, getting to the endings is a bit rough as it’s rushed and forced at times. I want to like this issue, but it’s clunky and it’s as if it’s missing scenes to make the narrative flow well and feel cohesive. Given the troubles this series has had over the last year we should probably be grateful we’re getting an ending at all, but that delay has most definitely affected this conclusion which could have used another issue for these endings to really pay off.
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