Satellite Falling

Satellite Falling #1-5

by Steve Horton, Stephen Thompson (Illustrator), Martín Morazzo (Illustrator)

She's the only human on an alien world...and that's the least of her problems. A sci-fi series filled with grit and wit.

She fled a fallen Earth, her lover dead. Now, Lilly makes her way as a cabbie by day and a bounty hunter by night as the sole human on SATELLITE. When Lilly's past catches up with her, it's going to take her and an unlikely band of weird aliens to set things right. What has Lilly gotten herself into?

Read the offbeat noir space opera that Jimmy Palmiotti called "my new favorite book." Written by Steve Horton (AMALA'S BLADE) and drawn by Stephen Thompson, (one of a few artists to have drawn Star Trek AND Star Wars).

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, LGBT, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Space

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2018

Reviews

[Amy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the art in this (right up until they randomly, weirdly switched artists for the final issue), and I liked Lilly and how much of a badass she is. And OF COURSE Earth's official stance is racist.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just about the most interesting thing in Satellite Falling is that the main character is unapologetically gay. That's great to see! But when that's the most interesting thing in a book, you know the story is painfully dull.

Lilly is a cabbie on Satellite, the lone human on a space station above Earth that houses numerous alien species. Supposedly, humans hate aliens, but the larger backstory for Satellite is never really explained. And that name! Where's the creativity? In any case, Lilly also works as a bounty hunter and gets caught up investigating a crime ring. She gets together a little team of pros to board a cargo ship containing the crime lord. There is a twist. It's not particularly exciting. By the end of the second issue I was pretty much done with the whole thing.

[Dakota · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding, the technology, and the characterization. The art in the last issue is absolute trash (different artist in the final issue, for some reason), which is why this isn't a five star for me.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lilly is the only human on Satellite. She drives a cab for all the aliens, but her real job is as a bounty hunter. When she gets an assignment to infiltrate a crime ring, she gathers a group of like minded adventurers and takes off into space. Of course there is a twist when she finds out who the crime boss is. It seems the girlfriend she thought had died on Earth and whose death caused her to head to Satellite was not who she thought she was.

I liked the fact that the main character is gay and there are no questions about that on Satellite. The fact that Earth is a racist, xenophobic place is also not surprising and an interesting twist. I also enjoyed the mix of aliens who team up with our heroine Lilly. Fun adventure story.

[Daniel John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it could have been better with a longer run, but yikes who wrote this grade school level 2010 tumblr edgy politics?
Humans are racist. That's it? like 1 out of 7 billion just wanted to be on the cool alien space biome? Pretty sure millions would have been interested. Very unrealistic. Also allegory for current immigration issues in the US is too obvious that it comes off as silly and try hard. Put more nuance in it next time.
And you really expect us to believe the culmination of hundreds of alien tech would get bested by a bunch of xenophobic humans who would have cut themselves off from that technological progress anyway? Poor writing overall.
Artstyle and characters were the only saving grace.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was going quite well - quite nice art, quite nice characters, quite nice story - until near the end when suddenly the artist changed (for the worse) and the story abruptly ended in a super cheesy way. What a disappointment. Also Lilly seems like she just falls in love pretty quickly. I liked the aliens though, reminded me a bit of the Mass Effect Elcor, but a lot less cool.

[Windmillchaser · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is closer to a 3.5. Its a good story but the change in artist from issue 4 to 5 takes it down a notch and the writing needed a pick up in a few places. But over all good. Then again, sci-fi detective story with redheaded female protagonist is kind of my jam.

[Martin Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

A potentially interesting premise, but it tries to cram way too much into its brief running time and comes across as half-baked and full of thin, insipid characters.
The main thing going for it is the art from Stephen Thompson, but he bails before the end of the penultimate issue.

[Les Abernathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phenomenally great art but poor writing. I would recommend reading it just to gander at all the great panels, just be warned the plot is super thin, dialogue is trope and lazy, and all the characters feel like weaker adaptions from other books.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty forgettable sci-if, not very good characters. Enjoy ale enough to read while reading, it there nothing that's stuck with me.

[Tariq Malik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun space adventure. Worth the read for the aliens alone.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fun alien designs. Terrible story. Terrible dialogue, with character beats that feel unearned and/or preposterous.

[Persephone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entertaining but rushed – the last couple of issues in particular read more like the outline of a story than an actual book.

[Yukai Lim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel was meh.

[Fabio R. Crespi · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Satellite" è una struttura artificiale in orbita attorno alla Terra. Di fatto un luogo di confino per alieni nel quale vive anche Lilly, unico essere umano dell'installazione, con un passato da dimenticare alle spalle e dedita al doppio lavoro di tassista e cacciatrice di taglie.
La storia, con un forte accento sulla questione razziale (su Satellite vivono alieni di specie diverse), parte da crimini commessi nell'habitat ma si ricongiunge in modi imprevisti al passato stesso di Lilly: se, in qualche modo, la lettura è piuttosto didascalica (forse perché pare diretta di preferenza ad un pubblico giovane), la narrazione scorre piacevole privilegiando dinamismo e azione.
L'autore è Steve Horton e ai disegni troviamo Stephen Thompson e Martin Morazzo. L'edizione completa raccoglie cinque numeri ed è di IDW.

[Andrei · Rating 2 out of 5]

First issue started well, and got me quite interested in the world and the main character, but afterwards I feel neither of the two was fleshed out properly. The direction the book took towards the end (~last 2 issues) was just poor, and the story felt like nonsense to me. Art was nice in the first 4 issues, but the change of artist for the final issue left a very sour taste.