This week’s indie comic is a series called The Alien Heroes written by Jaromir Francois. I read through the first two issues: The Alien Heroes #0 and The Alien Heroes #1. The Alien Heroes is about a kid Martian named Arby who goes on a journey with a ragtag group of friends. The thing I immediately noticed about this indie comic is the bright colorful artwork done by Tony Tirado. The series relies heavily on simple, yet expressive art to tell the story instead of a bunch of text-heavy panels which makes for an easy read.

The Alien Heroes #0 starts with a character named Ima being chased by one-eyed aliens in Episode 1. It immediately reminded me of The Flood from the Halo series. Ima zaps the creatures away while trying to roll away on roller skates. She tries desperately to use her weapons and parkour away ala Mirror’s Edge to escape the aliens. Does she actually make it out alive? We don’t know from just the start!

Episode 3 is the star of The Alien Heroes #0 and starts with two friends named Arby & Rim that encounter a giant pizza-eating rat (Master Splinter inspired?) in a sewer. The duo powers up to battle the rat and ultimately accomplish their mission of gathering some sort of glowing gemstone.

In The Alien Heroes #1 you get a bit more into the personality of each of the characters as it is a bit text-heavier than the prologue, but still a very easy read. The first issue starts with Rim and Ima leaving their school after taking and stressing about a quantum singularities test. They meet up with the rest of the team where their roles and quirks are fleshed out. Soon after a special mission is assigned and they all take off for space except for Arby. Chaos then ensues during the mission as the team tries to find their way.

The Alien Heroes is a great casual read with fantastic artwork. There isn’t anything overly graphic and the language is PG so it would be a good read for anyone middle-school aged or older. Please check out the creator on Instagram and support the comic on Gumroad if you liked the preview.

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