Outer Darkness (comics)

Last updated
Outer Darkness
Publication information
Publisher Image Comics
ScheduleMonthly
Publication dateNovember 2018 – 2019
March – June 2020
No. of issues15 (6 + 6 + 3)
Main character(s)Captain Joshua Rigg
Crew of the Starship Charon
Tony Chu (Fusion Cuisine)
John Colby (Fusion Cuisine)
Creative team
Created by John Layman
Afu Chan [1] [2]
Written byJohn Layman
Artist(s)Afu Chan
Rob Guillory (Fusion Cuisine)
Collected editions
Each Other's Throats ISBN   1-5343-1210-2
Castrophany of Hate ISBN   1-5343-1370-2
Fusion Cuisine ISBN   1-5343-1657-4

Outer Darkness is an American comic book series published by Image Comics, created by John Layman and Afu Chan, and set in the Image Universe. Set in the far future, the series follows amoral Captain Joshua Rigg and the crew of the starship Charon as they explore the outer darkness of deep space, encountering demonic possessions, hauntings, and cosmic horror as they do so. [3] the title was announced near the end of 2018, running for two six-issue volumes into 2019: Each Other's Throats and Castrophany of Hate , [4] [5] after which it was relaunched in 2020 as Outer Darkness/Chew, a metafictional sequel to Layman's previous series Chew , Rob Guillory returning as a guest artist, the three-issue miniseries collected as Fusion Cuisine . [6] [7]

Contents

The series has received a generally positive critical reception.

Plot summary

Each Other's Throats

Millenia after mankind has colonized the galaxy, interstellar travel reveals demons and all manner of supernatural forces to exist in the Outer Darkness of space. After beating out his second mutiny charge in an unconventional approach to preventing his previous crew's deaths, amoral Captain Joshua Rigg is assigned as the new captain of the starship Charon, headed deep into the Outer Darkness on a retrieval mission. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Castrophany of Hate

As Captain Rigg's past is explored, the Charon finds a haunted house in deep space, finding a living nun from the 21st Century trapped inside, who consequently joins the ship's crew. [13]

Fusion Cuisine

FDA partners Tony Chu and John Colby are apparently brought forward in time millennia to the starship Charon from during the events to Chew to assist with food-communicating with an alien ambassador. In a plot twist, Tony and John are revealed to have actually been generated from the ship's holodeck "holosseum VRdeos" on the fictional in-universe Chew series. On realising they will be dematerialised on their mission's completion, and learning of their ultimate fates within the narrative of Chew, the duo resolve to bring forth their supporting characters from Chew from before they otherwise would have died, and live lives of their own in the future, only for Demon Chicken Poyo to morph them into "infernals" to take on the crew. Ultimately, Tony and John defeat the demons and relinquish themselves to be destroyed, while D-Bear (now Demon-Bear) is revealed to have escaped in a shuttle (with Poyo as his god-engine), along with several demon succubi he brought up from hell. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

Reception

Each Other's Throats

Issue #Publication dateCritic ratingCritic reviewsRef.
1November 20188.7/1015 [20]
2December 20187.2/105 [21]
3January 20198.6/105 [22]
4February 20198.5/105 [23]
5March 20198.4/106 [24]
6April 20198.1/104 [25]
Overall8.2/1085 [26]

Castrophany of Hate

Issue #Publication dateCritic ratingCritic reviewsRef.
1June 20198.9/108 [27]
2July 20199.0/106 [28]
3August 20199.8/103 [29]
4September 20198.9/103 [30]
5October 20198.5/103 [31]
6November 20198.9/103 [32]
Overall9.0/1039 [33]

Fusion Cuisine

Issue #Publication dateCritic ratingCritic reviewsRef.
1March 20209.0/103 [34]
2May 20209.0/101 [35]
3June 20209.5/101 [36]
Overall9.2/1014 [37]

Collected editions

TitleMaterial collectedFormatPublication dateISBN
Volume 1: Each Other's Throats Outer Darkness #1–6 [38] Trade paperbackMay 14, 2019 978-1534312104
Volume 2: Castrophany of Hate Outer Darkness #7–12Trade paperbackDecember 24, 2019 978-1534313705
Volume 3: Fusion Cuisine Outer Darkness/Chew #1–3Trade paperbackSeptember 15, 2020 978-1534316577

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References

  1. ↑ MacDonald, Heidi (August 16, 2018). "John Layman and Afu Chan team for Outer Darkness from Skybound". Comics Beat . Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  2. ↑ Johnston, Rich (August 21, 2018). "Image Comics November 2018 Solicits Launch Bitter Root, Outer Darkness, Middlewest, Wayward Bunnies, Warning, and WicDiv Funnies". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  3. ↑ Jones, Jarrod (November 21, 2019). "'Outer Darkness', a sci-fi terror that you need to be reading, hits its first bloody milestone". Doom Rocket. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  4. ↑ Stone, Sam (March 5, 2020). "Outer Darkness: Image's TERRIFYING Interstellar Epic, Explained". Comic Book Resources . Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  5. ↑ MacNamee, Olly (December 22, 2019). "Something For The Weekend: Outer Darkness Vol. 2 By Layman, Chan And Image/Skybound". Comic Con . Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  6. ↑ Chiu-Tabet, Christopher (December 5, 2019). "Skybound Announces "Outer Darkness/Chew" Crossover". Multiversity Comics. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  7. ↑ McMillan, Graeme (March 6, 2020). "How Comics Crossover 'Outer Darkness' and 'Chew' Came Together". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  8. ↑ Quaintance, Zack (November 6, 2018). "Review: Outer Darkness #1 is a Solid and Charming Debut". Comic Book Case. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
  9. ↑ Burgas, Greg (December 11, 2018). "Review time! with 'Outer Darkness' #1–3". Atomic Junk Shop. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  10. ↑ Jack, John (February 17, 2019). "Outer Darkness #4: A Guarantee is a Promise". Comic Watch. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  11. ↑ Omi, Dan Tres (June 6, 2019). "Outer Darkness Vol. 1 // Review". You Don't Read Comics. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  12. ↑ Tom K. (January 11, 2024). "Comic Review: Outer Darkness Volume 1". Gabbing Geek. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
  13. ↑ Ferguson, James (July 22, 2019). ""Outer Darkness #8" Comic Review". Horror DNA. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  14. ↑ Whittaker, Zachary (March 3, 2020). "Outer Darkness/Chew #1 Review". AIPT Comics. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  15. ↑ Stone, Sam (March 5, 2020). "Outer Darkness/Chew #1 Blends the Two Image Titles with Surprising Ease". Comic Book Resources . Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  16. ↑ Peden, Billy (May 26, 2020). "'Outer Darkness / Chew #2:' Advance Comic Book Review". Fanbase Press. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  17. ↑ MacNamee, Olly (June 1, 2020). "Review: 'Outer Darkness/Chew' #2 Offers Up Gourmet Sci-Fi By Layman, Chu And Guillory". Comic Con . Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  18. ↑ Palermo, Jake (November 12, 2020). "Outer Darkness/Chew: Pulling Off The Craziest Crossover". Monkeys Fighting Robots. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  19. ↑ MacNamee, Olly (June 23, 2020). "Advance Review: Holographic Horrors Threaten To Sink The Ship In 'Outer Darkness/Chew' #3". Comic Con . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  20. ↑ "Outer Darkness #1 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. November 7, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Outer Darkness #2 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. December 12, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Outer Darkness #3 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Outer Darkness #4 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  24. ↑ "Outer Darkness #5 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. March 13, 2019. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  25. ↑ "Outer Darkness #6 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. April 10, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  26. ↑ "Outer Darkness: Each Other's Throats Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  27. ↑ "Outer Darkness #7 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. June 12, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  28. ↑ "Outer Darkness #8 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. July 10, 2019. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  29. ↑ "Outer Darkness #9 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. August 14, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  30. ↑ "Outer Darkness #10 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. September 11, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  31. ↑ "Outer Darkness #11 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. October 9, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  32. ↑ "Outer Darkness #12 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. November 20, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  33. ↑ "Outer Darkness: Castrophany of Hate Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. December 18, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  34. ↑ "Outer Darkness/Chew #1 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. March 4, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  35. ↑ "Outer Darkness/Chew #2 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. May 27, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  36. ↑ "Outer Darkness/Chew #3 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  37. ↑ "Outer Darkness/Chew Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. September 9, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  38. ↑ Layman, John; Chan, Afu (May 14, 2019). "Outer Darkness TP Season One". Previews World . Retrieved May 14, 2019.
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