Topside

Topside is a fun piece of sci-fi action. It stars Jo, a young woman who is a technician in the Core, an area in the interior of her planet. She keeps various things running, until one day she makes a mistake and tries to rectify it by taking an unauthorized trip to the planet's surface. There she plans to get some resources that will help her fix her error. What she does not plan on is running into a couple of shifty people who con her into their own schemes. She also did not plan on being tracked by a couple of bounty hunters, Karina and Lumi. Somehow, these five end up banded together on a journey across the planet's surface that may just be a wild goose chase.

I liked this book's set-up, and I feel that there are some good moments of suspense. My issue with it is that I don't feel that the ending paid enough due to the stakes raised from the onset. Things ended a bit too tidy, and without as much drama as I expected. However, there are a few things that do recommend this book. The artwork is energetic, clean, and very communicative. Also, one of the great joys of this book is the character designs, especially the bounty hunters. Karina is a giant woman with a shark head and Lumi is basically a walking light bulb. I might not have been utterly enraptured by the ending, but it is rather open-ended and invites sequels that might do justice to these entertaining and engaging characters.

This book's creative team writer J. N. Monk and artist Harry Bogosian also collaborate on a sci-fi webcomic StarHammer. Bogosian has drawn a couple of other webcomics, Demon's Mirror and A Better Place.

I was not able to find many reviews of this book, but the one I do cite here is positive. Kirkus Reviews summed it up, "Immersive, mysterious, and just the right amount of trippy." You can find more reviews of it at Goodreads where it currently has a 3.47 (out of 5) rating.

Topside was published by Graphic Universe, and they offer a preview and more here.