Cold Space is an interesting little book. Released by BOOM! Studios and written by Samuel L. Jackson and Eric Calderon, set in 4012 it feels a lot like a sci-fi Shaft, with a western edge.

Mulberry, visually based on Jackson himself, appears to be an arms dealer of the future. Hunted by the space equivalent of the police, he finds himself crash landed on an alien planet. Upon regaining consciousness he strikes a deal with one of the gangs in a small ‘western’ style town.

There are a couple of scenes that are written just to show us how tough Mulberry actually is, whilst his inner monologue just proves how much of a rebel he can be. The plot doesn’t really get going, but then this issue does quickly manage to set up the world in which this is all taking place. I think we can expect the story to start moving along swiftly by the second issue.

Jeremy Rock’s art is simple, yet detailed. A rather smooth finish to it all makes it not unpleasant on the eyes. There is a consistency in the feel to the tech and costumes of the characters, a feature sometimes missing in other sci-fi titles.

Overall this is a good start to a series, and has left me wanting to read more. Jackson could well be onto a winner, and possibly his next movie too.