Second Shift

by Kit Anderson

From the time when the station wakes her up, Birdie Doran is on the clock. It's just her and one or two others on Terracorp's isolated outpost, processing comets. So she slips into virtual reality, with the station creating adventures for her as she does repairs, routine maintenance, and checks the status on all the systems.

But when Birdie discovers another abandoned station just within walking distance of her own, she begins to question her isolation, and her own memories of what her job-and her life—really is. And at every turn, she starts finding the things the station has been hiding from her.

Ignatz Award-nominated author Kit Anderson presents a psychological science fiction exploration of the lines between reality inside and outside the mind.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published June 26, 2025

About the author

Kit Anderson (she/her) is a cartoonist from Boulder, Colorado. Her short stories have been published by Parsifal Press and the Rumpus, and she received her MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2022. Kit lives near Zürich with her partner and tiny dog where she enjoys walking in the woods and making comics about memory, nature, and wizards sometimes, too.

Reviews

[AllyP Reads Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to stop reading this book. Every other panel is the characters repeating each other's names as they are talking to each other. I cannot stand repetition like this and people don't talk this way! You do not say the person's name you are talking to every other sentence so stop writing books that do this. It's a huge mark of poor writing and dialogue.

[Ryan Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded up (Edit: rounded down. As I thought about the book, I dwelt on the disappointment, not the intrigue.) The mystery of what is happening is intriguing, which kept me going, but never really resolved—at least not in a way that I understood.

[J MaK · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.4) Set in an off-world outpost run by the AI-driven company Terracorp, this story follows three employees tasked with maintaining a remote station. Algorithms regulate their alternating sleep cycles, while the station’s AI assists with daily operations. Two crew members, Birdie and Heck—childhood friends prone to bickering—must rely on each other to keep things running. Their reality unravels when they uncover a more advanced station that reveals the unsettling truth behind the “dream space” between drop-ins and drop-outs. The atmospheric, lucid artwork perfectly complements the story’s eerie tone, blurring the line between waking and dreaming, logic and illusion.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous melancholy sci-fi. I love Kit Anderson's art and approach to worldbuilding and character. Absolutely lovely.

[Aurora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decidedly not for me. Things were so vague; it went beyond things being dreamlike or obscured intentionally for narrative purposes and into just "I have no idea what's going on." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok? It was pretty vague, like soft-focus, not giving a lot of clear, specific... well, anything-- setting, universe, and trajectory were left mostly up to the reader. This drops the reader into the story and, while not fast-paced, it never pauses to give backstory or set up what's going to happen next. How did the characters get here? Where is here? What is reality? What is the purpose of the station? Some questions, like are we alone in the universe or who was here before us, are meant to remain unanswered, but all the others seem like... what's the point of the story, if the reader neither has a chance to understand the characters nor connect with them?

Some setting details come through in the illustrations, of course, but I didn't enjoy the style and don't think it was supporting the story as well as it could have. It's been a little bit now since I finished the book, and the descriptor that's coming to mind to describe the illustration style is mostly "smudgy."

[Neep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birdie works on a space outpost with a ship AI capable of immersive simulations that it puts employees into when they're in suspension in between shifts maintaining the station. When Birdie's crewmate Heck discovers a deserted station nearby on the planet, the two of them journey across a snowy landscape and find more questions than answers within.

The artwork was absolutely stunning. I am a sucker for cute animals, so Station - the ship AI - manifesting as various adorable woodland creatures brought me a lot of joy.

The plot didn't do anything particularly groundbreaking, but it did what it did very well. It ramped up the tension really nicely, and expanded the universe well without info-dumping everything all at once. I really enjoyed reading this story, truth be told.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love haunting sci-fi stories that question what is "real" and the effects of an aggressively positive off-world corporate resource mining operation on the human psyche, look no further. Giving strong Moon, 2001, Andrei Tarkovsky vibes. The only reason I don't give 5 stars is that the dialogue/lettering doesn't differentiate between the characters enough.

[Josh]

AI simulations, corporate mismanagement, and a psychological mystery intertwine in this first graphic novel from cartoonist Kit Anderson.

Full review at: https://noflyingnotights.com/blog/202...

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a first read, I don't really understand what's going on, but I think it would be possible if it read it a bunch more times.

[Laura B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated, a quiet story about space, loneliness and what it is to be human.

[Fiore · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, not entirely sure what is going on but I get the sensation of being gently crushed by the loneliest hallucination.

[Kit Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know what? I think this is pretty good.

[Jacob Brogan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one just left me with a headache.

[Betsey]

I…didn’t get it. I think.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25/5

[Sinai C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't feel so bad since I see other people also didn't get the ending. But I still wish I could have gotten it!!!

[Pretty Peony Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about Birdie Doran, a scientist at an outpost. She has a holographic system available to her to keep her busy during downtime. There are two humans with her but one went into a deep sleep and the other is a friend or sibling who goes by Heck. There is also an A.I. named Station who goes almost everywhere Birdie goes. Station is the “knowledge and information” that Birdies uses to inquire about things she’s not familiar with. Birdie and Heck go out on a trek and locate another outpost. This one looked abandoned but it made Birdie wonder if her outpost was actually the abandoned one. Birdie and Heck get into a disagreement in which Heck stops talking to her. She then questions her job and her purpose.

What I enjoyed most about this story was the artwork. It was beautifully done. The author is also the illustrator, which I thought was pretty cool. The story was a bit choppy. I found Birdie finishing her sentences and that got to me a little. I wanted to know what she was thinking and why, but it would jump to Heck mumbling things. Other than that, I loved the idea.

[Michael Daines · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5)

“Second Shift” is a dystopian sci-fi tale, taking place in some remote location in space where humans go in and out of deep sleep while working shifts for overseeing mining operations. The daily routine is broken up by dips into V.R., but Birdie’s brother isn’t as engaged in them as she is.

This is slow burn and recommended for those with a taste more toward literary sci-fi.