Retrograde Orbit

by Kristyna Baczynski

At the outer edge of the solar system, on the mining planet Tisa, Flint and her mother live in the colony of Swift Springs. Displaced by a nuclear event, Flint's family settled in Swift Springs two generations ago to become miners. Soon Flint will be old enough to begin her apprenticeship at the refinery. But is the home that her family has built for her enough, or will a mysterious, irradiated planet pull her away from them? By following in their footsteps and leaving to forge a new path, is she betraying her family, or honouring their legacy? Exploring notions of home and the desire to leave it, Kristyna Baczynski's first graphic novel is a story of relationships, of time and of the motion of the universe.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Comix

108 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2018

Reviews

[Lauren]

4.5 stars

RTC

[Erica Moomin Halliday]

Absolutely stunning! Everything about this book was so beautiful, from the colours, to the perfect dialogue, to the progression through Flint's life, and of course all of the details in the alien market scenes. I wanted more, but short and sweet is great too. I felt so strongly connected to the characters and emotional about their lives from the beginning. It's an exquisite and moving portrait of strong, independent women across three generations. It's rare for me to write reviews but this one wholeheartedly deserves it. A real treat!

[Joe Decie]

I really enjoyed this book. It's sci-fi, alien planets etc... but very human. It's a story about family, single parents, being displaced, working class, finding where you belong, coming of age. That kind of thing.

It's for all ages, there's a hint of sex, so maybe for older kids upwards. There's a word for that. I can't think of it. YA, that's it, Young Adult.

The book is beautiful, and the ink smells lovely.

It's a short story, you can read it in one sitting, but the artwork warrants repeat viewings.

[Mateen Mahboubi]

A simple story of longing to go to a home that you've never seen and may not exist. Full of wonder and cool world building, I enjoyed the journey quite a bit.

[The_Mad_Swede]

This is a quite lovely little science fiction comic about identity, roots and immigration. From a young age, Flint is obsessed with the planet Doma at the outer edge of the solar system in which she lives on the planet Tisa. Doma is believed to be a dead planet, but it is also where Flint's family comes from. As a child with immigrant roots, Flint deals with cultural difference and questions of belonging, and her obsession is rooted in the exile's near mythical idea of glorious return.

With a delicate sense of visual storytelling, Kristyna Baczynski brings the reader into Flint's world and everyday life, using the tropes of science fiction in a clever manner to compose the thematic resonance of her narrative. It is a strong comics debut, and I certainly hope to see more works by Baczynski in the future.

[Amy]

I finished this last night and completely forgot to write something about it but I knew I wanted to do it because I did really like this one. I loved the colours and how they represent different times in the main protagonist's life and the way that it deals with coming of age. I bought this on a whim and it paid off as I really did love it. It was also kind of quiet and I know this one has gone under the radar so I hope more people pick it up. I also hope that I remember this one in the coming months.

[Emma]

A great, concise story with wonderful and fantastic characters and colors.

[Nikki]

This is so cute! I wasn’t quite expecting a journey through her life but I loved it

[booksl0th (hanny)]

A short, one-volume graphic novel which follows the life of Flint, the grandchild of an asylum seeker displaced by a nuclear event, and the conflict she experiences between the home her family left and the one that they created for her. Oh – and it’s set entirely in space.

Pros: The art of Retrograde Orbit is breathtaking, with colour gradient spanning the entire story from start to finish. This creates a beautiful spectrum effect, tying the chapters and events within the story together cohesively. The story follows Flint’s life in three-year skips, but you never feel like you’re missing anything – big events are illustrated succinctly and powerfully, both through dialogue and art. I felt genuinely moved reading this graphic novel, and Flint felt beautiful and vulnerable and powerful.

Cons: The ending of Retrograde Orbit felt somewhat abrupt to me – and it’s hard to explain why without spoiling the story. Ultimately, I felt like more could have been done to illustrate how Flint felt about the decisions she made over the course of Retrograde Orbit and what might be next for her. Or maybe that’s not really the point – was it really just about the journey?

I would recommend this graphic novel (from a local author, no less!) to absolutely anyone – it’s one of the best short reads I’ve ever read. This is especially for you if you love scifi, stories about culture and immigration, or simply want to know what it feels like to both belong and not belong anywhere. Buy it direct from Avery Hill Publishing.

[Lotte]

Flint lives with her mother on the mining planet Tesla, where her family in het grandmother's day was forced to evacuate after a nuclear disaster on their home planet. Flint has already dreamed of going back to her family's roots and obsesses over it throughout her life. In the book we get to see her grow up from childhood to adulthood and see her obsession change and grow with her, as she struggles for recognition and a way to make contact with her past. A really cool tale about finding your own home and your own place in life, with absolutely beautiful illustrations (what I liked most were the colors, and how every color signified a certain episode of Flint's life) against a background of an entirely planet so different from ours where 'planet hopping' is a form of travel, but full of oh so human and relatable people and their relationships (male/female friendship that does not turn romantic!!).

[AJ]

The story of Flint and her Mama and Baba, an alien family displaced and forced to move to another planet due to a nuclear disaster, felt immediately familiar. I saw the real-world parallels between this story and the Chernobyl disaster, where many families were displaced from that disaster as well. Since I'm Ukrainian (just as Kristyna is, too), the other real-world references, including Ukrainian foods, titles, and words like Doma (home), made this a very special read for me. The rest of Flint's personal journey was handled with such care as well. Loved this.

[Ionarr]

This is one of those things that I like, but don't love. I rounded up because it did have a lot to it, and I think that it might stay with me. I also really liked the art style and thought it was a pretty great use of outer space/universal struggles. It just didn't grip me in the way I hoped it would, and I think that's because I prefer slightly fuller stories, whereas this is very subtle. It is a good quick read though, and worth the hour or so.

[Rob McMonigal]

A great look at the idea of leaving safety behind for the adventure of the unknown. Usually, it's to escape cruelty. Here, it's to escape the mundane, but there's a cost--the loss, effectively permanently, of what you know to be safe, and what you already love.

Great, tight panel work, too, and the illustrations are detailed enough to make the sci fi setting credible without overdoing it.

Strong work from a creator I need to look out for more from.

[Mark]

This was so good, telling the life story of the central character Flint, third generation refugee from the planet Doma, who longs to return to, or at the very least just see, the planet her Baba (grandmother) came from. Each stage of life is colour coded, and to say anymore would give away too much; it should definitely be read without knowing much about it beforehand.
Moving and well-told; highly recommended.

[Jesús]

Retrograde Orbit is a sci-fi story that expresses what it’s like to be the grandchild of refugees. It’s also a book about strong maternal (and grand-maternal) connections. I know nothing about the book’s cartoonist, Kristyna Baczynski, but she clearly understands the odd alienation and desire to “return home” that those who are two generations removed from exile regularly feel.

[Petri Saarela]

Short and mellow coming of age comic in a scifi-setting. Young Flint has her life set and she yearns for something else. The topics and the story are quite universal - how to find one's own path and how to reconcile that with the hopes and wishes of your family. Extra points for wonderful use of colour!

[Alex Knibb]

A lovely, sweet story, told beautifully. The cast are likeable and believable, the world building is done well without feeling the need to hit you over the head with it and explain it all, and the art style has a tonne of character with the colours changing like the seasons as Flint's story progresses. I picked this up in a charity shop on a hunch and am very glad I did.

[Tabor]

Fantastic colors. really liked how this story dealt with the theme of displacement and how it can have a second/third generational effect. The author's choice to show the character at different ages was a smart move and really illustrated this sense of not belonging to the present culture.

[Sarah]

This never really got into the meat of the story. The world was well-conveyed in the illustrations, but every time we started to get into something important, we'd time-jump. Mostly a frustrating read.

[Sarah]

The last chapter really got me. I wasn’t expecting to get hit so hard in the feels.

[Elizabeth]

I cried three times reading this. It's about family and going home even to a place you've never been <3

[Renel]

4.5 stars

This was so good! The art was great, the coloring was beautiful and I really enjoyed the story. It was a quick read so I want more!

[Sean M Puckett]

A sweetly told story of growing up, angst, and finding your home. Lovely art.

[Angharad Dalton]

Lovely illustration style, and a lovely story. Baczynski is a talented storyteller.

[Moon]

3.5

[Reuben Thomas]

This was gorgeous. Really nice art style and a sweet story, well told. Would recommend.

[El]

as someone who feels guilty for being so far from my family, the last few sections hit pretty hard :')

[James]

Wholesome and heart warming.

[Adam Stone]

This is a really cool story about the difference between feeling like you belong to the place you are phsyically from vs. feeling like the place where you are from is a part of your heritage you don't identify with. It looks at the story from the perspective of three different generations of a family who escaped their planet, which they believed to be doomed. The way the family interacts despite their differences is really sweet.

The art is awesome, changing color schemes as significant chunks of time pass.

I recommend this for people of any age who are having difficulties after moving to a strange place.

[Tracy]

Short but well done coming of age comic set on another planet. The book is composed of a series of chapters following our heroine as she grows up, still dreaming of her home planet, the surface made unlivable by an explosion when her grandmother was young. One color is used for each chapter, which I think worked well. I enjoyed the art style and the character design of all the different species, and making people of each species look unique as well.