StarBreakers: Zeke Zero vs The Galaxy

What a rush! StarBreakers claims to be Guardians of the Galaxy meets Indiana Jones in graphic novel form and, despite this lofty claim, it does not disappoint.

On the planet of Grimlax 17b, crime is the only profession that pays. It is a hopeless planet populated by the galaxy’s fiercest villains, where the only way to stay alive is to steal what you need…run…and hide. Zeke is an expert in all three of these things, having honed his skills over the last thirteen years since his dad traded him for a spare battery and then abandoned him.

To keep out of the grasp of the countless intergalactic baddies, Zeke only talks to Elara – his hologram operating system – and always keeps a few flash bangs and his Speed Bar 2000 close at hand. He scrapes an existence by making opportunistic robberies, but when he inadvertently robs from a StarBreaker (a hunter of ancient, dead ‘tomb worlds’ and the prehistoric artefacts they hide) he finds himself in real trouble.

As the accidental new possessor of a treasure map belonging to a universe from eons ago, Zeke finds himself fleeing from various vengeful hoodlums, including the legendarily evil teenager: Grizelda Grim. Reluctantly, Zeke teams up with a hapless old StarBreaker and a strange, quirky alien called Astrid, in an effort to follow the map and escape his countless pursuers. But, after years or surviving on his own, can Zeke learn to be part of a team?

The drama is relentless in this book, with massive action set-pieces coming one after the other, featuring daring escapes and deadly gunfights. Zeke and his new crew dodge various frightful space monsters (like the moon-eating triloborg) and bloodthirsty bounty hunters… and that’s before the zombies arrive! The breathless pace is tempered by Zeke’s comedic swagger: he’s never short of a cutting one-liner despite the ever-present danger.

The sci-fi story will make children feel rather grown-up. The author-illustrator duo push young readers to endure very high levels of jeopardy and tension, coupled with mature themes like parental abandonment and loss. If they survive the myriad dangerous scenes and reach the end of the novel, readers will be eager to find out more about Zeke and Astrid, both of whom have mysterious and curious pasts. While they wait for the inevitable sequel, readers can entertain themselves by repeating the adventure and looking more closely at the generously detailed illustrations that explode from every page.