Three Worlds / Three Moons: Arrivals #1: Stage Setting

Arrivals shifts the focus from Foundation #1’s Tajo Vallar to a cast of characters that expands as the pages turn. One of those characters is Tajo’s wife, Helena, who is given a brief introduction to set up plot hooks for future issues. Every other notable character introduced in the issue is given the same treatment, more or less, with Arrivals being a three-part affair.

These introductions, however short, are all done to the same effect. You don’t name a comic book universe, any fictional universe for that matter, “Three Worlds / Three Moons” without having plans for said worlds and moons. While Foundations #1 was a sort of thematic opener, a way to get the reader familiar with the product, Arrivals is the stage setting. Characters are set up with very little fanfare and prepared, by the plot, to be knocked down or moved around in as few pages as possible.

Arrivals #1 is impressively lean, despite its double-sized page count. The sheer number of characters, both named and unnamed, means the stories have to be rapid and combine as few words with as much visual information as possible.

The artist in Arrivals #1 changes with the plot beats and scene transitions. Each new artist brings their own unique style to their scenes, separated by Hickman-esque data pages and world building graphs. The artists also color their own work, giving a sense of symmetry to the issue’s visual presentation as if we, as the reader, are peering into someone else’s imagination.

Surprisingly, shifting between artists every few pages is not very jarring. The changes only occur after data pages and when the story moves somewhere else or focuses on a different set of characters. These all feel more like snapshots, slowly connecting into a puzzle of a comic storyline. Each brings a different tone and focus to Arrivals, which is an incredible example of epic-scale world-building that leverages the unique strengths of the comic book format.