The Creators – Zack Kaplan – Writer, Andrea Mutti – Artist, Vladimir Popov – Colours, Troy Peteri – Letters

The Players – Humans, Aliens

The Story – An alien group called The Consortium come to Earth looking to set up a port where they might refuel their ships with the ocean’s water. Mankind agrees and realize that they might have made a big mistake.

The Take – In a tale that is reminiscent of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Men in Black or a dozen other science-fiction films, Port of Earth takes that familiar premise and gives it a twist to deliver something a little different. Most of the time when it comes to the various forms of media, aliens come to Earth to subjugate and to rule – to wipe humanity from the face of the planet and it makes for great entertainment. Sometimes they might be cute like E.T. or funny like Men in Black, but more often than not, aliens are portrayed as something to be feared and in this book that is not how it starts, though it looks to be heading in that direction. As writer Zack Kaplan states in the story, it begins as a business deal, an exchange of goods and for a time it works out all right. Soon though, things start to change as the aliens start to interact with mankind whereas before, they were forbidden to do so as part of the original agreement. Change is usually good, but when people start to die in increasing numbers due to alien violence, things must change once again and the men and women in the Earth Security Agency are finding that it will be one of the hardest jobs they have ever had to do. Based upon a scenario that is a little cliché and then changing it as the creators did, makes Port of Earth more than compelling. When the first issue ends, the reader wants to know where it goes from there and by leaving their audience wanting more, the creators of this book should give themselves a pat on the back. There is not a lot of action present, but they fill the book with big ideas and it never gets boring – a plus for a first issue which is definitely the right way to begin. Drawn by Andrea Mutti, the man does a great job depicting the near-future and those beings from the stars who have come with more than trade on their minds. When all is said and done, Port of Earth is intriguing, interesting and a welcome addition to comic racks everywhere.

Worth It? – Yes