Ocean/Orbiter Deluxe Edition (Warren Ellis)

Ocean/Orbiter Deluxe Edition
Warren Ellis, illustrations by Chris Sprouse and Colleen Doran
Vertigo
Fiction, Collection/Graphic Novel/Sci-Fi
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: A special edition compiles two stories of space travel:
Ocean: United Nations Weapons Inspector Nathan Kane is sent on an urgent, top-secret mission to Europa, Jupiter's icy ocean moon. Here, a discovery has been made that could rewrite human history... or end it.
Orbiter: When the space shuttle Venture disappeared, it spelled the end of manned spaceflight and the world's dreams of exploring the solar system. Ten years later and without warning, the shuttle returns to the ruins of Kennedy Space Center, with peculiar modifications, one catatonic survivor - and, impossibly, Martian dust in the wheel wells.

REVIEW: Another pleasant find on Hoopla, the online lending service associated with many library systems. Ellis incorporates heavy science into his stories, but doesn't forget the sense of wonder that remains at the heart of the best sci-fi.
In the first story, Ocean, Kane and a small team of explorers discover humanoids suspended in sarcophagi under the Europan ice, along with weapons that could turn the Earth to a cinder in seconds... weapons systems targeted by a private exploration team, in an unsubtle dig at corporate ethics (or lack thereof.) It has the feel of a good (if slightly old-school) sci-fi action film, even using variable gravity to great effect.
The second tale, Orbiter, is more psychological, a study of what the space program means to individuals and the world, and why it's so important to keep pushing boundaries even given the risks. According to the afterword, Ellis wrote it as a tribute to the lives lost in the Columbia disaster, and it shows - as does the warning of where we'll end up if we let fear pin us down on Earth when we should be stretching our wings further. This is the good stuff, the sci-fi that uses science to open doors and ask questions and wonder "what if...?", not just brood and come up with new ways to blow up slimy aliens.
Taken together, these stories earn top marks for remembering what the genre can and should aspire to.

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