Julian Hanshaw bombards hearts and minds with ‘Space Junk’

There’s a trope in comics that I call “the dead world story.” It’s the centerpiece of titles like Constantine: The Apocalypse Road, Escape From the Planet of the Living Dead, and the latest Flash Gordon series (among several more): our hero must escape some doomed planet/scenario lest they be trapped forever/consumed by darkness. But what if you didn’t want to escape such a situation, and you intended to stick it out? That’s effectively the premise of Space Junk.

The work of writer-artist Julian Hanshaw (The Art Of Pho, I’m Never Coming Back), Space Junk takes place on the “shattered remnants of a doomed planet,” where a group of misfits have remained behind. There’s Faith, who has “a metallic mystery bolted to her head,” and Hoshi, who “keeps his rage in check with an emotional support chicken.” They’re soon joined by several others who’ve “spent their lives emotionally adrift” as they “try to stay in place in a universe that is moving all too quickly.”

If you can’t relate to the theme, consider yourself lucky. But in the course of Space Junk, Hanshaw is able to unfurl a truly captivating story, and one the touches on everything from space colonization to grief and abandonment. Space Junk is a story that revels in exploring a chaotic and broken world, finding a deep humanity that resonates with everyone. Amid the bright colors and inventive sci-fi designs, Hanshaw uses Space Junk to get at the most universal concept: home, and what it really and truly means.

Space Junk is out now via IDW/Top Shelf. Just before the book’s release, we got the chance to field Hanshaw some questions. That includes the story’s development, how it fits into the “canon” of Hanshaw’s other works, his take on coming-of-age tales, and working as both the writer and artist.

Courtesy of IDW.

AIPT: Where did the pieces and core idea of Space Junk come from? It feels like this is something you’ve carefully assembled over time.

Julian Hanshaw: The idea had been with me for a while. I pitched it a number of years back to Chris [Staros, of Top Shelf] and he rightly declined it, as it wasn’t quite realised yet, and didn’t actually have the key part…the space junk element. So I let it simmer in the subconscious for a bit while I then wrote and drew Free Pass.

I would sometimes walk in a military firing range near me on the coast here in the UK and it is littered with old bits of hardware, which lead me to remember my visit to White Sands in New Mexico and I began to contemplate old wrecks and museum pieces following me, cutting large grooves in the ground. The story reemerged and began to take shape. I would lie down, put my headphones on with brown noise and think of objects moving across landscapes. Getting a feel of what I wanted to show and say. I then went back into my old script, simplified it and found the characters. So a slow and long build.

AIPT: Where does Space Junk fit in the grand scheme of your impressive bibliography? Does it feel like an outlier? Is it something you feel you’ve built to artistically, emotionally?

JH: I wouldn’t say it’s an outlier. I would say the outlier is probably Free Pass. And I’m just talking about the four books I’ve been lucky to do with Top Shelf, not the two with Self Made Hero and the two with Random House. Space Junk, to me, feels like a companion to Tim Ginger and Cloud Hotel. All three have a sci-fi and an otherworldly feel. Free Pass is very grounded in the now and worryingly it feels it has become even more precedent than when it was published in 2022, looking at the binary, blinkered political tribes, big tech and its power to censor and make people self censor….and AI sex robots! I wrote and drew Free Pass very quickly whereas Space Junk had a similar gestation as Tim Ginger and Cloud Hotel. With the ‘break’ of Free Pass, I’ve returned to a similar territory I have explored before, human emotions interplaying with worlds that are often just on the periphery.

Courtesy of IDW.

AIPT: The scope/tone of the book feels extra relevant to our own times. Was that purposeful, or is there a hope there’s something more timeless/universal to this story?

JH: I feel it’s a pretty timeless story. A love story set against a background of chaos. I didn’t intend to have any political angle in the story, some have mentioned its environmental commentary, but if people get that, then that’s fine, but the overriding truth to the Space Junk is everything has a memory, every object has a story.

AIPT: Do coming-of-age stories get a bad wrap? I sometimes avoid them because. I don’t know what more to pull/take away from these tales.

JH: They can often feel a little tired. I’m certainly not saying I’ve broken any barriers or re-defined the coming of age story! I like them, but I do find a lot of comic stories, in the YA section for example, tend to often look rather similar and follow a fairly acknowledged arc. A great coming of age tale that mixes a dash of technology and pathos is the beautiful The Iron Giant. The story still feels relevant and packs an emotional punch that gets you every time.

AIPT: Can you talk about the novel look of this world — it feels very classical sci-fi and yet something else entirely. Did you have any specific influences or end goals visually?

JH: I wanted to change my pallet from Free Pass. And wanted to use black. A lot of black. Its a colour that I’ve tended not to use at all. A few panels in Cloud Hotel, and that’s really it. I oddly also tend not to use green, but that’s for another day. I would say colour wise there is a bit of [Daniel] Clowes, [Charles] Burns and my good friend Krent Able in there. All use a ‘heavy’ panel colour whereas in the past I had used more of a muted/dusky tones. Space Junk is bolder, for sure.

Another element I wished to pull into the look of the piece was me going back to my animation roots. Mentioning The Iron Giant before, I went for a job interview when I was in LA, as an animation student, and was shown the opening sequence to The Iron Giant which they were still editing. I don’t think I ever felt so out of my depth than at that moment! But I wanted Space Junk to borrow from my animation days, I thought of the story pacing as an animation, but I oddly don’t think I ever start out with an end goal…or if I do, I might have either forgotten or simply changed tack during the process!

Courtesy of IDW.

AIPT: A couple reviews pick up on how tender this book is, which to me runs counter to the way some sci-fi stories feel more cold and cerebral. Was that a purposeful decision as well, to tell a human story that just happened to be sci-fi?

JH: I think my work always has a tender, slightly morose vibe. I’m a melancholic optimist. There is joy and humour in Space Junk…but once a Goth…always a Goth!

When looking at sci-fi, I tend to gravitate towards stories where the technology almost mirrors the tone of the story, as mentioned in The Iron Giant, Her, Ex Machina, and in Tom Gauld’s comic, Mooncop. All are sci-fi…but lo-fi sci-fi.

AIPT: Building off that last question, you’ve done some sci-fi stuff before (including the great Cloud Hotel), but this one seems like a hard turn. Do you think there’s some larger reason or something you were working out/getting at?

JH: I’m watching Eric on Netflix at the moment and it reminds me of Cloud Hotel. Sci-fi without the hardware. With Space Junk, I wanted the hardware. I wanted the junk — I’d been inspired in New Mexico and The Boneyard in Tucson. And I pulled from perhaps my biggest influence, JG Ballard. He wrote without peer, of deserted ranges and people coming to terms with technology that seemed almost magical, God-like. So the hard turn you mention is me leaning into a more traditional looking sci-fi with rockets and it being set off world, but wanting to give it an ‘indie sci fi’ feel being a little worn out and dated.

It’s a dilapidated shopping mall on a planet. Its neither overly dystopian or all sleek and hyper polished. It’s the future that is just a bit frayed around the edges. With Tim Ginger there was a sense of a higher power at work. In Cloud Hotel, I drew from my UFO experience and how it has affected me. With Space Junk, I brought the two together, the sense that everything has a purpose, the metal debris that litters the planet are looking to Faith for a purpose and release. She is more than she seems. As is the chicken!

Courtesy of IDW.

AIPT: Do you have a favorite page, panel, scene, etc. that speaks to the heart of Space Junk? And why that one in particular?

JH: Ha. That’s a tricky one! I’m going to go to the splash page 159, as Faith and Hoshi walk triumphantly through the terminal with the debris falling in the background. As I mentioned, the planet feels like a big but crappy shopping mall, a Ballardian abandoned building. And there is a calmness to the longshot as chaos rains down outside. I like the cheeky dialogue and the scale, all of which are at the heart of Space Junk.

AIPT: It feels like you touch on big ideas of community here, and this idea of the healing power of someone else even if they’re just as lost/damaged. Is there something to that notion?

JH: Certainly the power of finding someone. It saved me. I borrowed from my own experiences that built up to the night I met my now wife and the slow unfurling of a relationship as you learn to open up and trust the other person. Both Hoshi and Faith are troubled, Hoshi probably the most. He is fizzing with rage and his self tattoos are testament to that, and its not a person but a chicken that gives him hope and belief . A chicken that is spared slaughter and brings with it a cosmic balm for Hoshi. The characters in Space Junk, those that wish to stay on the planet, are lost but form a little community, kick against the system and…well, I’m not going to spoil it.

AIPT: I always ask this of writer-artists: is it harder or easier assuming both roles? Especially with a book like this that seems so layered.

JH: I think, if I’m honest, I prefer assuming both roles. It’s a control thing. I am however working on a new project for Top Shelf illustrating Paul Davidson’s brilliant script. Paul has been incredibly patient with me and open to me tweaking/changing/leaving out sections, which has helped me not feel as though I’m there purely to storyboard an idea. But to build and expand on the storytelling. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks..?!

Courtesy of IDW.

AIPT: How do you think a book like this might influence your next project or the next topic that you explore/latch onto?

JH: That’s an interesting one. The project with Paul has a more muted colour scheme and I think that has been influenced by Space Junk, wanting to explore a black and grey world that has splashes of hallucinogenic colour. I liked the clouds sitting on the horizon in Space Junk, against a black skey and am aiming to explore that further. I’m also pushing the page/panel layouts wanting to build on some of the splash pages in Space Junk. There are similar beats for sure, but an utterly different world. I think I always carry over something from my previous book, it’s a learning curve and I’m pushing myself with each new project.

As for after that project, I honestly can’t think at the moment. I did tell myself I would have a break after Space Junk. But then I read Paul’s script! Once the thumbnails are done there will be a little space in my head where a new idea could take hold…

AIPT: Is there anything else people should know about Space Junk before reading?

JH: The chicken is based on my chicken Esme. She is a wise thing. There is something about her, when she fixes you with her gaze and cocks her head…as though she is saying ”I know.”