Kaptara Vol 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien by Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod

Kaptara Vol 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien written by Chip Zdarsky and illustrated by Kagan McLeod is a surprisingly funny and weird space fantasy comic. I would not have known about it if it hadn't been listed on NetGalley and it caught my eye due to being written by Chip Zdarsky (aka the illustrator of Sex Criminals), and drew me in because of the (admittedly very short) blurb.

Keith Kanga crash lands on KAPTARA, a world filled with danger and weird danger and dangerous weirdos! And if he can't survive, then Earth, the place where YOU live, is doomed!

The premise here is basically a group of astronauts on their way to Mars end up going through a wormhole-type thing and crash land on a fantasy alien planet. The main character, Keith, illustrated on the cover, is a gay bio-engineer/environmental scientist whose defining characteristics are not being physically strong and running away from trouble. The latter is particularly useful when things on the alien planet start trying to eat him.

Keith meets up with some of the varied inhabitants of the planet, who are quick to inform him that the Earth needs saving. But Keith would rather stay here where people are nice to him... The story seemed to me to be a mix of pre-Golden Age SF ideas (stories about alien planets with the merest nod towards the science part of SF) and very now, kind of internetty elements. It was weird and quite funny at times.

I would recommend Kaptara to anyone with a sense of humour to whom any of the above appeals. I am looking forward to reading more when the next volume is released. Will the Earth be saved? Who knows!

4 / 5 stars

First published: January 2016, Image Comics
Series: Yes, vol 1 of ongoing series, collecting issues #1–5
Format read: eARC
Source: NetGalley