Comic review - Satellite Sam

Satellite Sam is an ongoing creator owned comic. It is written by Matt Fraction with art by Howard Chaykin. Currently 8 issues have been published and a trade paper back collecting issues 1-5 is also available. It's published by Image. Before we go any further there will be some mild spoilers in this review.

Satellite Sam #1 cover by Howard Chaykin

Matt Fraction is currently writing another creator owned book at Image, Sex Criminals. Sex Criminals is a sex comedy. I won't go into it any further now, there will be a review in the next week or two. I mention only because Satellite Sam is pretty much the polar opposite of it.

Satellite Sam is set in the early 1950's at the birth of TV. Satellite Sam is a serialised kids sci-fi TV show. In the first issue the star, and owner, of the show is found dead. In a secret apartment in which his son, the main character, finds boxes and boxes of photos of women.

Art by Howard Chaykin

The comic revolves around Mike, the aforementioned son, and his attempts to find out just what happened to his dad and what all those pictures are about. Also, he replaces his dad on the Satellite Sam show, despite not being an actor. Or at least it's mostly about that. There are plenty of subplots running through the series. There's the studio owner trying to compete with the networks. The show's writer dealing with various pressures that would be too spoilerish to go into. One of the female co-stars of the show, Maria, and her relationship with her boyfriend. The director and his health. One of the crew members, Gene, trying to creative an inventive new style of TV show. Mike recruits another of the show's female co-stars to help him find out more about his dad. This co-star is also a born-again Christian and former hedonist. Her helping Mike leads to her having to confront issues from her past she thought long dealt with. To put it another way, the series is packed with plot and sub-plots.

Sometimes that works against it as they don't always seem to mesh together well. Mostly though it's a compelling look at just how messed up and inter-connected everything is. The comic has a tight, clautraphobic atmosphere. Everyone's trapped in some way. Mike is trapped in his father's shadow. The station is trapped by federal legislation. Other characters are trapped by the contrast between the lives they want to lead and the lives they have to appear to lead, again I'm trying to avoid spoilers. Maria is trapped, trying to make a career in America after leaving her life in Italy behind after the war. The picture below is her dressing for her boyfriend exactly how she appears on one of the posters for an old film of hers. She's trapped by the past and her heritage.

Art by Howard Chaykin

Even Gene, as he tries to break new ground in his medium, is trapped by what a terrible person he can be.

Gene's struggle is really the struggle of the comic. He wants to make a TV show where the words and the story clash with each other and both need to be paid attention to. The comic is the story of people trying to make their way in the world and the art is full of tightly framed panels to show just how constricted they are. Ultimately the things they do are limited by things they can't control.

It's fair to say that the comic has too many plotlines than it can handle sometimes and it's true to say that the main character, Mike, is pretty much a forgettable main character, (to a degree that's part of the point of his character but it can make it a little too hard to care about him), but overall this comic is a well written & beautifully drawn series that weaves interesting stories that promise to pay off in an very entertaining way in the future. I think it's worth checking out.