The Quarter Bin

This week marks the release of the sixth and final book in Top Cow‘s Pilot Season 2008, The Core. Written by Jonathan Hickman, The Core is a sci-fi tale taking place in the center of the universe. As I’ve said before, I’ve been having a lot of fun reading the installments in this year’s contest, and I’m very excited to see which books are going to come out on top. But before we get to all of that, hit the jump for our review of The Core, along with some preview pages.

Pilot Season: The Core #1
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Kenneth Rocafort
Cover Artist: Jonathan Hickman

As I previously stated, The Core is a sci-fi story, complete with space travel, various alien races, and what appears to be some kind of intergalactic war. The tale begins when Asimov Dedeken becomes the first human appointed to an elite unit within the core previously only populated by extraterrestrials, and as such must prove himself as worthy.

My favorite thing about The Core was not the story itself, but the many different characters that inhabit the pages of the book. I enjoyed checking out the different species of aliens, each of them unique and beautifully designed. Between yellow-skinned, sassy scout Krys, cross-eyed (literally) sniper Nos, and all the other members of the Special Forces team, there was a lot to like about the characters, and they really made the story more interesting.

I wish we could have seen more of the interactions between these characters, however. Some of the pages contain a brief history of the Core, while others are designed to look like military data, but I didn’t find these nearly as interesting or entertaining as watching the many different races of the universe interact with each other. I applaud Jonathan Hickman for doing things differently, and that is something I always like to see.

The artwork of Kenneth Rocafort does an excellent job of bringing these characters and their surrounding environments to life. The entire book seems designed to look unique, and each panel really pops. It’s just a really nice, really well-done work of art all around.

The Core #1 is available today at your Local Comic Shop, and as I previously stated, the last of the Pilot Season books to be released. Now is the time to play catch-up, because the voting starts in August. If you’ve been enjoying Pilot Season as much as I have, you know how hard it’s going to be to pick just two of these six issues. Each one was special, and honestly, they all have potential.