Written by Becky Cloonan
Art by Andy Belanger
Colors by Lee Loughridge
Published by Image Comics
Have you ever seen or met someone that you are sure is suspicious or not to be trusted? Then, they keep showing up in your life for some reason or another. Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger take this every day human problem and combine it with interplanetary space travel and a high-tech mystery in Southern Cross #1. Southern Cross is actually the huge, crowded tanker that the protagonist Alex takes to the distant moon of Titan to get the body and effects of her sister Amber, a big-wig for the oil company. Artist Andy Belanger captures the cramped, winding nature of the tanker with his tightly composed panels that contrast with the vast expanses of space in the exterior shots of Southern Cross. He sometimes replaces the gutters between panels with little annoyances, like a dripping faucet, to show the tedious nature of interplanetary voyages. Color Lee Loughridge uses dark, dank colors, but sometimes switches things up with a bright, sad blue as Alex looks back on her home Earth.
In Southern Cross #1, Becky Cloonan keeps most of the plot cards in her hand doling out little reveals and half-answers towards the end of the issue. (Belanger’s art has some clues to what really happens on titanas well.) She doesn’t reveal much about Alex’ past, except that she likes to keep to herself and wasn’t very close with her sister. Alex’s dialogue is incredibly snarky and sometimes borders on annoying, but who hasn’t been annoyed with a roommate or a weird or creepy fellow passenger on a train, bus, or plane. Sadly, most of the other crew and passengers exist as exposition deliverers, except for Alex’s undercut sporting roommate, who is harboring a secret beneath her nice, stylish facade. Belanger gives each character a different outfit or hairstyle to hint at their personality (or the personality they want other people to see), except for one scene where Loughridge makes the passengers a blur of green to show their
loss of individuality aboard the ship.
Andy Belanger’s art is full of activity with lots of people coming and going in the early scenes where Alex is at the docking station. He can fill a panel while leaving room for narration and dialogue and still clearly show Alex’s journey. Belanger (and arguably Southern Cross #1) is at its best when drawing the decks, ladders, and generally tight quarters of the Southern Cross. Loughridge’s faded out colors give readers the same feeling of disorientation as Alex bumps into random guys,who make a sexual innuendo after one exchange. This is part of Cloonan’s injections of subtle feminist and political commentary, especially in the quieter character scenes. Even though readers don’t know much about the characters, Southern Cross #1 has visually interesting layouts and play of colors, a solid mystery hook, and is a good start to this personal, space-faring story.