Thanks for the comments about Far Trader #1. It helps to get other
perspectives. I think the cost is a little higher than with other
comic books, but with the smaller audience size, I think they have to
price it so it's worth their time to produce. If the plot and
characters become intriguing enough, it may attract more attention and
may become the basis for a Traveller streaming series or movie! For
now the characters haven't been developed enough for me yet as of
issue #1, to hook me definitely.

On Wed, May 8, 2024 at 11:09 PM Timothy Collinson - timothy.collinson
at port.ac.uk (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Tue, 7 May 2024, 22:45 Tim - timotht at gmail.com (via tml list), <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
>>
>> What do people think of the Far Trader comic published by Mongoose?
>>
>> Preview samples can be seen at:
>> https://www.drivethrucomics.com/browse.php?keywords=far+trader
>>
>> I bought the digital Issue #1 when it was on sale. The cover art is
>> great. Interior art not so much. Starships are nicely drawn and
>> there's ship stats, deck plans, weapon stat and one character's UPP.
>> Interesting characters but a bit Traveller trope heavy, so will have
>> to see how beyond the stereotypes they become.
>>
>> I'd like to see how the story goes but may wait until a sale for issue
>> #2, which was just released last month.
>
>
>
> I've just had the second one arrive in the post and it's very similar to the first.  Personally I find the print nicer than the ebook version, not least because the text is quite small.
>
> This time we got a bit of back story and then a return to the 'present' but I won't spoil anything save to say I was reasonably cliffhanged at the end and want the next bit.
>
> So I like that I'm fairly engaged with the story already and I don't mind the 'tropes' as you put it.  As I not infrequently struggle a bit to know exactly what is going on in a panel (or more) of graphic novels, it's probably helpful to me that it's familiar territory.
>
> I'm not really qualified to comment on the art but you perhaps sum up my feelings well enough.  It is interesting to compare the cover (by Mauro Sorghienti) with the interior page that covers the same moment. But there are several nice moments in this one that caught my imagination.
>
> I enjoy the stats at the end.  They root it in Traveller which I like.  Six pages again.  This time with a character that will be familiar to readers/players/refs of The Traveller Adventure and details - good stat block - for a highport at Carsten in Aramis subsector of the Spinward Marches. (IMTU Carsten did not roll the 10+ needed to get a highport so I had to keep reminding myself that it's NOT MTU. But this can hardly be regarded as a point against it!).  Also a mining tram, another NPC and some Akerut Security forces.
>
> If there's something I don't like about it, it's that you're buying a pig in a poke in terms of how many there are likely to be or that it will even finish.  For the latter I give you Exhibit A, B, C, D, E.... etc in any serial fiction in Freelance Traveller.  For the former, it will be a very expensive way of buying a story even if we only assumed there were going to be a dozen, say.  (And I have no reason to believe it won't be longer if it's successful.)  I also fear that if it does continue there will be a compilation making me feel I've got to buy it again.  I appreciate this last is my compulsion rather than a fault of Far Trader.  But yes, I'd rather Mongoose (strictly, Markosia Enterprises I should probably say) were offering a complete thing, even if there was then a sequel.  If that makes sense!
>
> On the upside, it's not taking up much space on my Traveller fiction shelf (yet) and I like that they're trying something different and expanding Traveller media.  Short of a movie, it's good to see some (ongoing) visualisations of The Imperium which is why I've enjoyed the strips in Freelance Traveller.  I added the ongoing because there are of course illustrations in books but they tend to be one off.  Kudos to the illustrator of Free Trader, Xavier Bernard, for being able to maintain the look.
>
> In short, I'll continue to support it and buy the third one at least, but I shall be watching closely to see how it goes, how expensive it becomes, or how quickly it aborts.  I know where I'd place my bets...
>
> I don't know if that helps?
>
> tc
>
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Tim Tow