After Sol deals with the simple theme that humans are shit. They are hateful, ignorant, greedy and just plain rotten at times. This is not one of those science fiction stories that have the humans at the centre of everything and are major players in the whole galactic scene. In After Sol humans are bottom-feeders on the galactic food chain. They just destroyed their solar system, only 25000 are still left, they can’t seem to get past their racist notions, and one-quarter of their ship, the Santa Maria was just blown up.

The year is 2134 and just as we are about to finally get our space program on track and venture outside our solar system a race war begins between Homo Sapiens and Homo Inhumanae (No person would really call them Homo Superiors), our genetic superiors and next step on the evolutionary scale. This war causes almost all space exploration to cease for the next fifty years; technology is still being developed as a large part of the war is being fought outside of Earth. Then in 2180 some dickhead uses to most destructive weapon ever. This weapon is capable of creating a super nova, but through some miscalculation turns Sol (our sun) into a black hole. Only the three Columbus-class ships have the capabilities to escape the massive gravity well. Only one makes it. The Pinta’s engines never get on-line and it is sucked in; and the Niña just blows up through some technical error.

One would think that the 25000 people on the Santa Maria would put aside their differences now that they’re all remains of the human race, but that is most definitely the case. The war continues in full scale as fights break out on the bridge between the Captain and first officer. Captain Gerald Hutchison is the first Inhumanus; he has the memories of all his past lives, approximately 1500 years. The civilian population is in all-out gunfights in the middle of the corridors. Packs of Inhumanae are roaming the ship, killing anyone not up to their “genetic standards.”

[Plot spoiler edited out. Buy the book to find out what happens next, you bastard!]

Sean’s gift is that there is no barrier between his conscious and sub-conscious minds. All those things that your sub-conscious picks up on without you knowing it, he does. He can read books at super-speed and see the pictures within pictures.

Now, I can sense you’re thinking “This is a science fiction comic, right? So where are the aliens?” Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that I’ve got aliens for you unlike anything you could imagine. Creatures that don’t even resemble what have passed in the past for aliens. None of that crap about every race being “humanoid” or even our size or even following our laws of physics. They will be different. Here’s one their names: the M’sü-r!o.

The bad news is that they don’t show up for a good year into the series. I wanted some time to breathe and set up the status quo for After Sol without having to rely on aliens. I want to give you a real sense for the people on the Santa Maria and what their lives are like. What they eat, do for entertainment, or even do for sex. Or how they adjust to life on a ship alone in the galaxy, knowing that the survival of their race depends on them. Or how regular humans and Inhumanae interact.

On that note, let me explain the Inhumanae. There will be no X-Men-type mutants here. No optic blasts or adamantium claws. Inhumanae are essentially humans with improved mental and physical conditions. Stuff like telepathy and a little advanced strength. How someone would just be able to manipulate the magnetic fields of the planet are beyond me, but having an improved mental or physical condition? That’s possible and believable.

You know those huge, grand stories that take place on shows like Babylon 5 and Star Trek? You know how humans are always involved? Not here. Here, on a scale of one to ten, the Humans are about a 1.3.

If it seems that I’m just ragging on a lot of the popular and accepted standards in comics and science fiction then you’d be right. This is my way of doing things different than those standards. Would you really just want to read a rehashing of some previously written stories rather than some new and original concepts?

List of characters:

Before war on the ship: Captain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerald Hutchison

First Officer . . . . . . . . . . Robert Wilk

Second Officer . . . . . . . . Stephanie Pronger

Security Chief . . . . . . . . .Jack O’Neil

Engines Officer . . . . . . . .Heather Cooper

Chief Doctor . . . . . . . . . .Preston Durst

After the war on the ship: Captain . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerald Hutchison

First Officer . . . . . . . . .Stephanie Pronger

Second Officer . . . . . . Jack O’Neil

Police Chief . . . . . . . . Sean Tzu

Engines Officer . . . . . .Heather Cooper

Chief Doctor . . . . . . . .Lucién LeMares

Here are a few quotes/bits of dialogue that I’ve written:

1. Hutchison and Wilk

“Mr. O’Neil, remove the Captain from the bridge.”

“Belay that order!

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Commander Wilk?”

“Relieving you of duty, sir. You are unfit to command this ship.”

“Why? Because I’m a Inhumanus?”

“Yes, sir. And I might add that you are lucky that I do not personally through you out an airlock for that crime as I should.”

“You racist son of a--!

“ . . .

“Do you know how I am a Inhumanus? Like if I’m telepathic or telekinetic? I remember every single one of my past lives. That’s roughly about two-and-a-half millennia of memories. I’ve fought in every single, but one, great war in that time. I’ve seen more action than you could ever imagine. I’ve fought in the Crusades, the War of the Roses, World Wars one through four, Vietnam and the Holy War of the Middle East.

“I’ve also known a lot of people. Too many like you, Wilk. Far too many. you think that the only real person is a person that is just like you. You are afraid of what you don’t know and don’t have the balls to learn. It’s pure cowardice and ignorance. It’s people like you that destroyed the whole fucking solar system. Not Humans, not Inhumanae. Just weak, frightened little kids who can’t grow the fuck up.

“Oh, and I never told you this either, but I think I’m your Great-Great-Grandfather. I’m disappointed, too.”

2. Stephanie Pronger

“This isn’t about him being a Inhumanus and you a Human. This isn’t about you being a racist asshole, either. This is about him being the Captain. He’s the Captain and you, Lieutenant are not, so either shut the hell up or get your head blown off for treason. Your choice.”

3. Hutchison and O’Neil

“What’s with the eyes?”

“Well, sir, I’ve got a piercing on either side of both my eyes with a magnetic tip facing outwards. I attach the lenses that way.”

“Why on Earth would you do that, O’Neil?”

“I was sixteen, had a hundred bucks and was bored.”