Smoking space robot monkey: A review of Aama

The Smell of Warm Dust is the first part of a five part series from Self Made Hero called Aama. The original sci-fi adventure is written by Frederik Peeters and due out late in November via stores like Amazon.

In many ways Aama has two beginnings; both mysterious. The first beginning has Verloc waking up in a strange planet, with no memories and being talked to by an ape with shaved legs. This isn’t really an ape, though, Churchill is actually a robot.

Verlock has a diary in which he can discover what happened. It’s through him reading the diary that we get to our second beginning.

The second start to The Smell of Warm Dust has Verloc’s younger brother happen to bump into him, after many years of separation, when Verloc is literarily a heap in the gutter. While the older brother’s life has taken a downwards turn the younger is doing well working for a powerful corporation.

The two and Churchill the robot find themselves on board a super hi-tech spaceship, bound for a planet on which a group have scientists have been stranded for the last few years. There’s an interesting back story to the stranding; something big has happened in this far future galaxy but we don’t get many details on this in this issue.

The curveballs start to fly when we get to the planet and it is here we begin to get a feeling what the five issue arc for Aama might be like. You’ll learn that Aama has some sci-fi treats in store for us.

There’s certainly elements in Aama that feel familiar. The planet’s secret – not that we know it yet – threatens not to be a surprise. The trouble with the scientists and even the narration by diary seem a little familiar.

Curveballs and familiar elements? I think that’s Aama’s trick. Peeters’ sci-fi has a clear vision and is told well, there’s no padding, there’s just good storytelling. He manages to take a situation in which you should know what happens next and make you start doubting yourself.

The art style is the same. To begin with I was a little unsettled by the illustration. It wasn’t tight and crisp enough for me. Churchill dominated everything – what a character. Over time, perhaps a dozen pages in, and it had become more familiar, less unsettling and yet a panel or page would throw up something unexpected. It’s these twists that impress.

Sci-fi fan? Looking for a new series to check out; want to enjoy a different spin on a familiar-ish concept? Check out Aama: Vol 1 – The Smell of Warm Dust.