Life on Another Planet
| Life on Another Planet | |
|---|---|
Cover of Life on Another Planet (2009).
Art by Paul Buckley. |
|
| Created by | Will Eisner |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Kitchen Sink Press |
| Schedule | Irregular |
| Title(s) | "Signal From Space" in The Spirit #19-26 |
| Formats | Original material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) Spirit Magazine and Will Eisner Quarterly. |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | October 1978 – December 1980 |
| Number of issues | 8 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Will Eisner |
| Artist(s) | Will Eisner |
| Letterer(s) | Will Eisner |
| Colorist(s) | Andre LeBlanc (hardcover) |
| Creator(s) | Will Eisner |
| Editor(s) | Denis Kitchen |
| Reprints | |
| Collected editions | |
| Signal From Space | ISBN |
| Life on Another Planet | ISBN |
Life On Another Planet, also known as Signal from Space, is a science fiction graphic novel by Will Eisner dealing with the social and political consequences of a first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. It was first serialized in The Spirit and later collected into a single volume.
An artificial radio signal from Barnard's Star listing prime numbers (although the term "prime" is never used in the story) is received at the Mesa Radio Astronomy Observatory. One of the radio-astronomers is a Russian spy and tries to inform his superiors; however he is uncovered by his fellows and subsequently killed. The CIA hires James Bludd, a prominent astrophysicist, to try to understand what is going on.
Several plotlines follow and intertwine, most of them centering on personal greed. News of the extraterrestrial message leaks to the outside world, with different consequences. A bum and a waitress build a cult, calling themselves the Star People, which seeks to find a new home on the Barnard's planet. Multinational, a corporation, decides to invest money into the cult, in order to have an easy to manipulate spaceship crew ready to take possession of the inhabited planet on behalf of the company. A dying biologist, Dr.Crowben, decides to push on the creation of plant-human hybrids biologically suited to the planet environment, which also falls within the scope of Multinational's plan.
Meanwhile, the two surviving astrophysicists have been abducted by the KGB, and Bludd learns that Russians plan to answer to the signal using neutrinos. The international situation further complicates when a small fictional African state, Sidiami, burdened by debts with other countries, decides to "secede from planet Earth" and declares itself a colony of the planet around Barnard. The "Star People" decide to relocate in Sidiami, and the Multinational starts plans to launch a probe towards the Barnard's planet from there. James Bludd finds himself implicated in the ongoing struggle between the USA, the Multinational and the "Star People" to get advantage of the situation.
...
Wikipedia