Review - Sage Escape: Transhuman #1


"I'm relying on your services for my survival."

Exploration of space is tough. Not just because it's so big, but also because you need someone there you can trust to get your back. In Sage Escape: Transhuman #1 Sage is looking for such a team. The issue is written and illustrated by Damian S. Simankowicz and lettered by Primal Archetype.

Armed with political and military knowledge of the future, Sage travels to the Perian home world to assemble her team. Meanwhile, on Earth, the soul collecting entity known as The Final Word offers a deadly deal to Imogen Cray that she cannot refuse.

Simankowicz is very ambitious in Sage Escape: Transhuman #1. Sage is a universe-renowned assassin seeking out a team, but there's a lot of missing logic in regards to why she's doing just that. Simankowicz should be credited for creating a deep continuity for the Sage character and a lot of the events in Sage Escape: Transhuman #1 are predicated on prior events. This makes a little tough for new readers to jump right in and get a feel for the comic or the property even as Simankowicz does his best to make it accessible. The dialogue throughout the issue comes across as somewhat forced, as if the characters are aware that they're telling a story to the reader.

The artwork duties are also handled by Simankowicz and his approach is relatively simple. Characters are rendered with a basic approach that illustrates them as a wide variety of alien-type characters set against pretty sparse backgrounds. Simankowicz doesn't really provide a lot of details in terms of facial expressions, but he does handle the action pretty well in showing off Sage in combat. There are pretty simple colors throughout the issue as well, largely focusing on the primary colors more than anything.

Sage Escape: Transhuman #1 knows what it wants to do and gets pretty in-depth in doing so. Sage is a more than capable, intergalactic assassin seeking to build out her team for reasons yet to be revealed. The script by Simankowicz is pretty straightforward in following Sage in her team-building quest. His artwork has a sheen to it as it follows the action on page. Sage Escape: Transhuman #1 is a bold first issue that knows where it wants to go even if it seems like it will take some time to get there.

Sage Escape: Transhuman #1 is available now.

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