Galactic #1 Is a Wild, Quirky Sci-Fi Fusion Star Wars Fans Will Love (Exclusive Early Review)

Sci-fi is an incredible genre, one with stories that take readers into new worlds, new galaxies, and new experiences well beyond their own reality and, sometimes, even their wildest dreams. Mash it up with romance, and you often get sweeping adventure as well that makes the often foreign-seeming landscape a bit more human. But what happens when you take that a bit further and throw in cinematic scale, blockbuster action, and plenty of spice? You get Galactic. Hitting shelves from DSTLRY in November and written by Curt Pires with art by Amilcar Pinna, Galactic #1 kicks off a wild, extremely mature adventure that, while perfect for fans of the Star Wars franchise also gives off major Saga vibes and is, in a word, a delight.

Let’s get something out of the way up front; DSTLRY describes Galactic as “What if George Lucas and Quentin Tarantino f@#&ed and had a baby? That baby would be Curt Pires and Amilcar Pinna’s Galactic” and I’m here to tell you that description is 100% accurate. From the very first page, Galactic #1 feels like an obscene love letter to Star Wars with what can only be described as the cantina scene on acid. In fact, much of Galactic #1 feels like a love letter to the arguably greatest sci-fi franchise in entertainment, from the roguish bounty hunter Jecht Marco and his pilot, Wolf (who happens to be a talking dog) to the alien designs to even the Princess at the center of political drama who is anything but a damsel in distress. There are some incredible visual and thematic similarities that immediately make the reader feel at home.

Rating: 4.5/5

Galactic #1 Is a Familiar Tale, But One That Charts Its Own Path

There isn’t much you can say about the actual plot details about Galactic #1 that wouldn’t be a spoiler, but what can be said is that while the “hook” for the story is its similarities to Star Wars and True Romance, there’s actually a lot more to it. There’s also a slight Game of Thrones element to it, with some political betrayal and a decidedly psychopathic antagonist that ups the stakes. It’s a little predictable in certain respects, but that doesn’t take anything away from the story. After all, this first issue is very much setting the stage, reminding readers that, from Jecht’s perspective at least, this is a love story but it soon becomes a war story as well.

Moving beyond the story aspect of things, there is the book’s art. Pinna’s art is very cinematic in scope. Each page and panel very much feels like scene from a movie. This is especially apparent when you look at some of the panels in details. There are angles and aspect shifts that feel very much like camera perspective. The result is an experience for the reader that doesn’t simply feel like following words and images on the page but actually experiencing the story. It is very well done and helps balance some of the sexier, grittier, and certainly more adult elements of story.

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And if there were to be any drawback to Galactic #1 it would be that. To be clear, the book is up front from the beginning that this is a violent, sexual, very mature story and it doesn’t shy away from that. However, there are some small moments where it feels like that is being used to both lean into the over-the-top description of the book and simultaneously set itself apart from the stories it’s paying homage to. It works, but it perhaps doesn’t flow quite as well as you would hope, given the rather fast-paced nature of the story.

Overall, Galactic #1 is a wild ride. By taking familiar aspects of one of sci-fi’s greatest and best-known franchises as a bit of creative inspiration and then going full adult and wild with it, the result is a story that promises to go in some dark directions that ups the stakes and injects something fresh and new into the sci-fi comics genre. It’s a lot of fun and even if some of the more adult content isn’t your thing, it’s still a story you’ll find yourself easily immersed in as you buckle up for the ride.

FOC for Galactic #1 is October 6th.

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