Titan by Francois Vigneault

☆☆☆

→ sci-fi graphic novel

→ 208 pages

→ content warnings: violence, sex

→ publication date: November 10th 2020

I received a copy of this from Netgalley for an honest review!

Titan is a science-fiction graphic novel that critiques capitalism and colonialism. MNGR João goes to Titan to sort out the productivity of a struggling space colony, and finds a station plagued by growing divisions between the giant Titan workers and the Terran management. With the help of a Titan, Phoebe, they must try to save Homestead and the rest of the world from riots and disaster.

The two main characters were intriguing, if underdeveloped and cliché. How many times have you seen sci-fi characters who love 20th century music? At least the music choices were good! Phoebe’s backstory and arc was my favourite, with her inner conflict and loyalties. It was also interesting to see how João, as part of the privileged ruling class, realises that he can’t be the saviour, and, despite his best intentions, only antagonises the Titans further by trying to single-handedly solve Homestead’s problems (reminiscent of the white saviour trope). I think this is where we can really see the connections to our own society, especially the divisions between the ruling and working classes, the oppressors and the oppressed. In terms of the other characters, there was a diverse cast but they were very one-dimensional and everyone was portrayed as bad.

The story was fast-paced and contained a lot in a short amount of time, with some unexpected twists. I think my main problem with the book is that it was just too short. There wasn’t enough time to explore the characters or the plot in as much detail as I would have liked. The ending also felt rushed with a convenient time jump.

One thing I really was enjoyed the art style and palette, with the contrast of black, white and pink. It enhanced the spacey atmosphere and intensified the violent action and sex scenes, without making them too graphic.

Overall, I liked the aesthetics and themes but it wasn’t quite developed enough for me to enjoy or rate it higher.

Thanks for reading! Do you like sci-fi?

—ella♥

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