alfr 01 distant light distant country
alfr 01 distant light distant country
Kitchen Sink January 1987
Written by Anthony F. Smith and Eric Vincent. Illustrated by Eric Vincent. B&W. Cover price $2.00.
Denis Kitchen says:
This highly praised science fiction comic came out of the chute strong (#1 sold over 30,000 copies) and showed tremendous promise, but the complex plot, bizarre array of aliens and relative dearth of humans evidently proved too challenging to the average comics buyer. Sales on Alien Fire dropped precipitously and the series was cancelled by publisher Kitchen Sink Press after the 3rd issue when Vincent had to chose between finishing the 12-issue series or retaining a girlfriend who wanted to eat and pay the landlord. It’s also possible that the Black And White Bust just decimated the series along with basically everything else. So almost a decade later we get this book. I think it’s the first book in this blog series from the era after Kitchen Sink “bought” Tundra?
Ed is more than just the sole human aboard the Wooden Bird. He is also one of the few humans that figure in the outer space sequences of the book. To some extent, that is a key raison d’etre of Alien Fire. “One of the intriguing things about aliens is that they are.. .alien.” Anthony said, tongue firmly implanted in cheek. Actually, Ed in the book, in point of fact, is the real alien character. Here in outer space everyone has their hor;nes, cultures and fellow members of their species still ac- cessible. Ed is very alone. “We’ve taken the one human character and stuck him in a bunch of alien situa- tions with a bunch of people that he cah’t relate to. That feeling of confusion, that feeling of loss, that feeling of.. .alienation is intended to be there,” Anthony said. We see and experience much through Ed’s perspective; the story in effect, mirrors Ed’s confusion.
Anthony speculated, “I’m afraid readers are going to assume it indicates a lack of control in the storytelling, when in fact we’re do- ing exactly what we intend.” The first issue ends with Ed, as he has many times before, retiring to one of the ships’s holds and dancing to old Fifties Earth music and drinking himself into stupor. The song is “Jailhouse Rock,” which isneant to be kind of an ironic reference…when he says, “Earth’s national anthem,” refer- ing to its pariah status.
“Our story, in a large part, deals with loneliness and suffering, what it is and how it tempers the soul, what it does to the individual in making him mature.”
Pencils Inks Eric Vincent • Colors Ray Fehrenbach
Alien Fire • 1. Distant Light, Distant Country • 2. Kansas – 21st Century • Alien Fire • Kitchen Sink House Ads • Alien Fire