Skyward is written by Joe Henderson, illustrated by Lee Garbett, and published by Image Comics.
The issue starts off with showing us a cute family putting their baby down for a nap. Nothing out of the ordinary going on here. Just a husband and wife chatting before she goes out for her morning jog. Just as he’s getting ready to take a sip of hot coffee the mug slips from his hands. Nate waits to hear the crash of the mug on the floor, but it doesn’t come. Instead the coffee is floating before his very eyes and it hits him. There’s been a massive change in gravity.
Nate worries most about his wife, Lilly, because she just stepped outside for her jog. Somehow Nate knew this was going to happen. He tries his best to save his wife from floating away. Nate has to calculate every move to avoid floating too far. Oh, and don’t forget he also has his baby Willa sleeping upstairs.
While Nate is trying desperately to save his family the scene switches to some folks that are clearly comfortable living without gravity. It’s now 20 years into the future and these folks are strapped to strange floating apparatuses for safety. They actually look to be having fun. Willa has grown up to be a beautiful young woman, and is navigating through no gravity just fine.
Willa flies through the sky, and we get a glimpse of her world. Skyscrapers reach up forever, and balloons are tethered all around. Willa makes her way into a building and meets up with a friend, Edison. She asks him about a time when gravity existed. He remembers it well, but admits that “G-Day” was one of the best things that ever happened to him. Willa is sad because she was attempting to flirt with him, and she kinda humiliated herself by asking Edison that question.
Just as Willa is accepting the humiliation a package arrives. Willa tells the delivery lady she can get the package where it needs to be and takes off. As Willa flies through the sky to deliver this package we learn a lot about how fun it is to fly. Of course, we also learn how deadly flying can be. The smallest miscalculation, and you could be drifting towards the sun and lost in the atmosphere. A string of events happen to Willa as she tries to deliver the package fully shows both fun and deadly.
I went from thinking this would be a fun world to live in, to thinking, holy crap would I even survive a few days in this world? You would have to be very aware of your surroundings at all times to survive. The thing I love most about this story is just how much I was able to put myself in Willa’s world. Obviously I’ve never lost gravity except when I was on a roller coaster, and that was fun. Skyward does a great job at envisioning Earth with total gravity loss.
I love how this world was brought to life in this story. Skyward does an amazing job of bringing my childhood fantasy of floating and flying through the world with no gravity. I’m sure many other people can relate to my sentiment. I can’t wait to see how the story progresses. Be sure to pick up this issue to see the exciting conclusion, and obviously to fully grasp Willa’s world.
Rating: 9/10
