Rating: 
Summary: ... and a big (very big) minus five star for the foreword
Review: "But we cannot remain children" Ellis concludes his atrocious foreword (Feb.2003) with the idea of space exploration as an "adult", a "grown up" humanity feat. Doesn't it sound a bit too military? Please call in Spider J. to drop by and give Ellis his brain and his legendary clairvoyance back. W.E. writes that space manned exploration is something we should keep doing, not forget, not watch from a distance as tv kids. Ellis is so naive about what is real life crewed space exploration. Humanity goes to Antartica... What does it do? Does it *explore*? After the first space high (yes we are going up), please prepare the next gen planet for the human induced lung cancer.
Rating:
Summary: ... and a big (very big) minus five star for the foreword
Review: "But we cannot remain children" Ellis concludes his atrocious foreword (Feb.2003) with the idea of space exploration as an "adult", a "grown up" humanity feat. Doesn't it sound a bit too military? Please call in Spider J. to drop by and give Ellis his brain and his legendary clairvoyance back. W.E. writes that space manned exploration is something we should keep doing, not forget, not watch from a distance as tv kids. Ellis is so naive about what is real life crewed space exploration. Humanity goes to Antartica... What does it do? Does it *explore*? After the first space high (yes we are going up), please prepare the next gen planet for the human induced lung cancer.
Rating:
Summary: Awe and Wonder... Encore!
Review: Having read the specialty April 23rd release edition, I can say ORBITER was a joy! The fluid and informed writing worked hand in hand with the subtle and dramatic art to bring the story to enthralling life, by turns mysterious (where did that shuttle go, and for 10 years?), horrific (what happens when it does return, and the strange bio technology), and awe inspiring (finding out what happened in those 10 years, and oh that ending!). As the pages turned, it became ever clearer that this is a work of passion for these creators, that they loved the subject matter, and it shone through the interesting ensemble of characters as they peeled away the layers on enigma and faced the big ideas revealed. This is a dream of the future reclaimed. I strongly recommend ORBITER, especially to space enthusiasts and fans of mysteries and sense-of-wonder stories. My only complaint, like with all good stories, is it leaves you wanting more. I hope to see author Warren Ellis and artist Colleen Doran working together again and exploring even further into a speculative future!
Rating:
Summary: Awe and Wonder... Encore!
Review: Having read the specialty April 23rd release edition, I can say ORBITER was a joy! The fluid and informed writing worked hand in hand with the subtle and dramatic art to bring the story to enthralling life, by turns mysterious (where did that shuttle go, and for 10 years?), horrific (what happens when it does return, and the strange bio technology), and awe inspiring (finding out what happened in those 10 years, and oh that ending!). As the pages turned, it became ever clearer that this is a work of passion for these creators, that they loved the subject matter, and it shone through the interesting ensemble of characters as they peeled away the layers on enigma and faced the big ideas revealed. This is a dream of the future reclaimed. I strongly recommend ORBITER, especially to space enthusiasts and fans of mysteries and sense-of-wonder stories. My only complaint, like with all good stories, is it leaves you wanting more. I hope to see author Warren Ellis and artist Colleen Doran working together again and exploring even further into a speculative future!
Rating:
Summary: A look into the future
Review: I always pass on DC's harcover graphic novels, because the softcover will never be far behind. While waiting for the SC of Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran's ORBITER, I head time after time how it was a wonderful and uplifting story that would bring a tear to your eye. I can't agree with that. ORBITER strikes me as nothing more than a gung-ho highly-theoretical technogeekfest on the level of Jurassic Park, Twister, or The Core. I wouldn't be surprised if this were optioned for a movie, as it fits the formula so well. And please, let's forget about how the release of this graphic novel coincided with the Columbia disaster and judge it for what it is. Due to the disappearance of the shuttle Venture 10 years ago, manned spaceflight is at a standstill. Then, Venture returns, heavily modified, showing signs of having undergone a space/time warp, and containing only the pilot. A team of experts is quickly assembled to find out what happened, and they are so cookie-cutter, it's amazing. The team consists of a typical fast-talking, tough-as-nails Colonel who goes for the bottom line and doesn't have time for all the scientific mumbo-jumbo; a brilliant young theroetical physicist (aren't they all) who is a goofball but with a can-do attitude; a former astronaut who dreams of a return to the stars (and who's going through a well-timed divorce in order to drive this point home); and a psychologist who does... not much, except serve as a mouthpiece for Ellis' main point. The technobabble is overwhelming (I'm not even sure if Ellis understands what he's writing about), and the ease with which the mystery is solved, and its casual acceptance by the team, leads to a happy blockbuster-movie conclusion that didn't do anything for me. In fact, I find it quite annoying that the team is able to solve so much of the mystery on its own, proceeding successfully along lines of tenuous logic. Warren Ellis is capable of exceptional work (Planetary, Global Freqency), but ORBITER reads like a formulaic screenplay for a Michael Crichton film.
Rating: 
Summary: This has MOVIE written all over it... for the wrong reasons
Review: I always pass on DC's harcover graphic novels, because the softcover will never be far behind. While waiting for the SC of Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran's ORBITER, I head time after time how it was a wonderful and uplifting story that would bring a tear to your eye. I can't agree with that. ORBITER strikes me as nothing more than a gung-ho highly-theoretical technogeekfest on the level of Jurassic Park, Twister, or The Core. I wouldn't be surprised if this were optioned for a movie, as it fits the formula so well. And please, let's forget about how the release of this graphic novel coincided with the Columbia disaster and judge it for what it is. Due to the disappearance of the shuttle Venture 10 years ago, manned spaceflight is at a standstill. Then, Venture returns, heavily modified, showing signs of having undergone a space/time warp, and containing only the pilot. A team of experts is quickly assembled to find out what happened, and they are so cookie-cutter, it's amazing. The team consists of a typical fast-talking, tough-as-nails Colonel who goes for the bottom line and doesn't have time for all the scientific mumbo-jumbo; a brilliant young theroetical physicist (aren't they all) who is a goofball but with a can-do attitude; a former astronaut who dreams of a return to the stars (and who's going through a well-timed divorce in order to drive this point home); and a psychologist who does... not much, except serve as a mouthpiece for Ellis' main point. The technobabble is overwhelming (I'm not even sure if Ellis understands what he's writing about), and the ease with which the mystery is solved, and its casual acceptance by the team, leads to a happy blockbuster-movie conclusion that didn't do anything for me. In fact, I find it quite annoying that the team is able to solve so much of the mystery on its own, proceeding successfully along lines of tenuous logic. Warren Ellis is capable of exceptional work (Planetary, Global Freqency), but ORBITER reads like a formulaic screenplay for a Michael Crichton film.
Rating:
Summary: Bloody Brilliant!!!
Review: I have anticipated this book for a long time.
It was worth the wait. It absorbed me as I devoured it in under an hour.
If you've ever gazed at the night sky with longing... If you cried when Columbia exploded... If you've ever dreamed of what might be out there, then this book belongs on your shelf.
Colleen Doran's artwork forms a gritty, 'waking up from history' world around Warren Ellis' well-researched, sharp-witted words. If you are a fan of either Doran or Ellis, "Orbiter" will not disappoint you.
I'd say more, but I wouldn't want to spoil this story for anyone. You just have to read it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Ellis understands . . .
Review: It's the near future, a decade after the end of manned U.S. Space Shuttle flights, which was the result of the disappearance of the shuttle VENTURE from its orbit. But now VENTURE is back, landing at Kennedy (and taking out a few score squatters in the process) with only John Cost, the pilot-commander, aboard. The quickly cobbled-together team of experts are driving themselves nuts trying to figure out where the shuttle has been, and how, and why. Ellis's story beautifully captures the excitement of weird physics and makes an emotional case for the continuation of manned space flight, and Doran's strightforward drawing style is a perfect match for the prose. The irony, of course, is that between the completion of the book and its publication, we lost COLUMBIA on its landing approach -- an event which especially chills the heart of every proponent of manned space exploration because the cry has again been raised for robots to take the place of humans in space. Ellis and Doran know we must never allow that to happen.
Rating: 
Summary: The Space Program is Dead
Review: There are many who believe that the space program is just an unexciting shadow of its former glory with all missions merely reaching low orbit and a few remotes sent further. Ellis takes it a little further and has the whole manned program shut down completely.
The time is the near future and the manned space program has been completely shut down since a shuttle just disappeared ten years earlier. But suddenly the shuttle returns to Kennedy.
The return of the shuttle sets off a cavalcade of action as teams are quickly assembled to discover just what happened and what it means. One team is checking out the shuttle and how it is operating. One is checking out where it has been. The third team is looking into the one crew member to return; the pilot. This will not be easy as the shuttle seems to be covered in skin, the pilot is near catatonic, and there is evidence that it landed on Mars.
This is a story of a world where the doors to space travel ravel and exploration have been closed. Now a new enthusiasm is sparked and the reader is taken on a wonderful ride of discovery as the teams delve into the possibilities. Ellis handles the techno-jargon (it's not babble) very well. The excitement the engineer feels as research progresses is almost tangible. He races through ideas an possibilities in a very believable manner. The other team's actions follow similarly-believable lines. In the end the reader is left with one simple thought: I want more!
Rating:
Summary: Mystery from space
Review: Warren Ellis's story presents the reader with an intriguing mystery, while at the same time showing how the space shuttle Venture's return to Earth literally restores the lives of the three scientists tasked with explaining its decade-long absence. These three, having seen their dreams shattered ten years ago, now stand on the brink of the greatest discovery in history; one which will change their lives - and the world - forever. There are echoes of Ray Bradbury and Arthur C Clarke here, and some will see elements of 50s British sci-fi serial Quatermass, but that is all to the good. This is a multi-layered tale that combines the best elements of its influences, creating a unified whole which is positive and uplifting. While a few extra pages wouldn't have gone amiss, the three leads are strong characters fully-realised by the narrative. We see something of their past, and we come to know their dreams. We like these people because they are not superhuman. They're normal, down-to-earth types whose heads just happen to be in the stars - just like us. The story is aimed at the dreamers who look up at the night sky in wonder; who shed a tear at the Challenger and Columbia disasters; and those who look at the face of the full moon and see themselves reflected... A graphic novel does not exist with words alone, and in Colleen Doran's art we find perhaps the book's greatest strength. Colleen uses a style which is largely experimental for her, full of stark contrasts, and while it is not totally successful it does suit the story extremely well. The story-telling is exceptional, and the characters are brought to life with graceful body language that is unique in every case. You can tell who the characters are just by the way they hold themselves within the panels (restless dreamer Terry Marx, introverted loner Anna Bracken), and that is a rarity in comics. We are treated to stunning full-page renditions of some of the wonders the Venture experienced on its travels, and the double-page spread of the shuttle's violent return to Earth is superb. A word of praise too must go to Dave Stewart's subtle colouring which really brings the world imagined by Warren and Colleen to life - a brighter palette would have destroyed the illusion. It is a perfect compliment to the muted watercolours of Colleen's painted cover: an image which conveys in a single illustration the full sweep of human endeavour in space. In his introduction Warren expresses his frustrations over the slow progress of mankind in space. ORBITER is his answer to those who would prefer that the exploration stop; who would cut funding; who would give machines tasks that ought to be done by people. We - mankind- have a restless thirst for knowledge, and a need to seek answers from what we see around us. Warren and Colleen believe that we will find the ultimate answers in space, and so that is where we must go. After reading this book, you'll know they're right.
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