Futility: Orange Planet Horror 

Nominated for Best Graphic Novel by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association!

Lost in a future not of his making, simple farm-boy turned unwitting space- farmer, Red Hayes has already faced sentient robots, cannibal alien matriarchs, hairy space-primate warrior tribes, and an ancient pint-sized galactic tyrant. Now, stranded on a strange new planet with a dark history, abandoned by his own great-great-great-(great-great?) granddaughter, Red faces his deadliest challenge yet. Isolation, exposed organs and intergalactic violence. It’s… FUTILITY! Orange Planet Horror!

“FUTILITY is gross, violent, darkly funny sci-fi: a pulpy but completely modern space adventure” – Fiona Staples, Eisner and Harvey Award winning artist of Gods and Monsters and Saga

“FUTILITY is what a baby conceived of Steve Ditko and Robert Crumb would look like. Strange and filthy. Not for the whole family. Especially Grandma. Unless she’s into that type of thing, in which case it’s definitely for her.” – Scott Kowalchuk, Artist of Batman ’66; Lucha Liberty; The Mysterious Strangers; The Intrepids

“We all love hearing about other people’s shitty lives, and Red Hayes is the biggest loser of them all! Every issue of FUTILITY is jam-packed with Red’s intergalactic mishaps. You want to feel sorry for him but, really, you can’t help feeling great about yourself. I love FUTILITY comics because of this.” – Danko Jones, rocker, model Canadian.

“FUTILITY is a strange, funny, gut-turning parody that could make a person question the acceptable limits of cartoon violence.” – GMB Chomichuk, Award-winning writer and illustrator of Midnight City; Apocrypha: The Legend of Babymetal

Looking for a back issue? Contact Rick!

The backstory:

July 16, 1969 — Apollo 11, carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, leaves Earth on mankind’s first trip to the moon. Aldrin will later report seeing something outside. Some will speculate it is a UFO, or perhaps a detached panel from Apollo 11. It is neither. Unbeknownst to the world, there is a Midwest farmer, who once served in the Airforce with Aldrin. A farmer with something to prove…

The comic was originally conceived by two Calgary band geeks. They shoe-horned in tributes to some of their favourite classic sci-fi comics like Spacehawk and Weird Science (this list keeps getting longer as they dig for new material to rip off, er, pay homage to). As interpreted by kids who grew up on Heavy Metal, Mad Magazine and of course all the classic Marvel and DC stuff.

But, needless to say, they were not interested in creating some pure-hearted role model bitten by a radioactive bug, launched as a baby from a dying planet etc., etc. They wanted a truly flawed character—not some noble guy like Hamlet either.

So what you get is Red Hayes, a straight, white, 40-something farmer in the Sixties. Communism terrifies him. Hippies offend him. Women’s lib confuses him. But if he thinks America is going to hell because of that stuff, just wait til he sees how strange it gets in space. The Futility creative team has plenty of ways to make him squeamish.

Maybe there’ll be some character growth and a little socio-political subtext buried in his exploits too. Maybe.