‘The New Space Age’ #1 doesn’t quite make it off the ground Instead of exploring its truly clever premise, The New Space Age opts for lots of backstory. By on December 16, 2025 I assume writer Kenny Porter first came up with a novel, genre-mixing premise for a sci-fi adventure, but then he had to create a story to surround his idea. Introducing, developing and balancing those two aspects makes the first issue of The New Space Age what it is – both its strengths and weaknesses. Supporting Kenny Porter on the creative team are artist Mike Becker, colorist Kevin Betou and letterer Buddy Beaudoin. Courtesy of Mad Cave Studios As to the story surrounding the clever premise: in the not-to-distant future, Mark Mitchell, a low-level astronaut, loses his job delivering supplies to space stations after making one of his patented good-hearted but impulsively unwise decisions. In fact, the damage he causes while saving the lives of three fellow astronauts completely bankrupts the national space agency. Now he doesn’t know how he can possibly find his younger brother, Joey, whom he lost in their youth. No one believed him back then, when he told everyone Joey was abducted by aliens – and no one believes him now, either. He’s spent his whole life trying to find Joey. It’s why he became an astronaut. It’s why he stole equipment to monitor for alien activity. It’s why now – after losing his job – he has to find another way to continue his search. But how can he possibly travel to alien worlds, when he can no longer get off the ground? Mike Becker’s art reminds me a lot of a webtoon. The somewhat blocky, cartoon characters and settings could definitely be found in child- or youth-friendly animated shows. It’s not my favorite art style, unfortunately, although there are some inventive images. I like the delivery spaceship that looks like a rocket-fitted Fed-Ex truck. And I really like the floating cow. But I was also somewhat distracted by all the white space on the pages; the art hardly ever fills the area provided. I almost wonder if The New Space Age was originally intended for a different medium and then reformatted for the standard comic book page size. Sometimes Becker uses the page to break the panel borders. But mostly there is just a lot of empty space. And the best images in the comic are the ones that use more page-space. Courtesy of Mad Cave Studios After the opening scene, in which Mark Mitchell saves lives and loses his job, the middle of the issue really drags with too much backstory. Of course, a first issue has to establish backstory. But there is just a lot of exposition here. Kenny Porter decides to add emotional weight to the relationship between Mark and his brother Joey by using the well-worn abusive drunken father trope. I think Porter instead could’ve added more flashbacks of the brothers interacting throughout the issue, in order to show us more of their deep emotional bond. But we only get one extended flashback, with lots of narrative exposition, leading up to Joey’s alien abduction. I also think The New Space Age would benefit from a more obvious thematic goal. I assume from the webtoon-like art and story that the creative team is going for a lighthearted, sci-fi, action-adventure, rescue story. But it’s not really funny enough and the pacing isn’t quite right for that to be the main goal. Porter and Becker could’ve gone with a deeper exploration of grief and the importance of learning to let go, a la Jeff Lemire’s Mazebook or Daniel Warren Johnson’s Do A Powerbomb . But The New Space Age is obviously not going in that direction. By the way, Daniel Warren Johnson did provide a great incentive variant cover that will probably be hard to find and way too expensive on the aftermarket. It has floating cows. WARNING: spoilers appear after the next image! Courtesy of Mad Cave Studios The most original and intriguing part of The New Space Age is the genre-mixing premise that I’d wager Porter came up with first before creating the rest of the story. Basically, he mixes alien-abduction sci-fi with magic and sorcery, specifically magic runes. With the help of a childhood friend, Mark figures out that crop circles are related to ancient magic symbols. They are actually instructions for creating magic powered intergalactic travel. It’s a premise just strange and clever enough, it should’ve been the focal point of the whole story. Instead, it’s relegated to the last third of the issue. And there is too little mention of this idea in the solicits or issue summaries. It’s as if the creative team and the editors at Mad Cave wanted this to be a big surprise twist. I think it would’ve worked better as the selling point. All in all, The New Space Age #1 never really gets its intriguing premise off the ground, but rather stays grounded by its exposition-heavy backstory. Strangely, the webtoon-style art often leaves too much of the page white and empty. If the genre-mixing premise had been the focal point instead of the surprise twist and cliff-hanger, I think The New Space Age would’ve had more going for it. ‘The New Space Age’ #1 doesn’t quite make it off the ground The New Space Age #1 The New Space Age #1 never really gets its intriguing premise off the ground, but rather stays grounded by its exposition-heavy backstory. Strangely, the webtoon-style art often leaves too much of the page white and empty. If the genre-mixing premise had been the focal point instead of the surprise twist and cliff-hanger, I think The New Space Age would’ve had more going for it. Reader Rating0 Votes Source: https://aiptcomics.com/2025/12/16/the-new-space-age-1-review/