Trover Saves the Universe #4: Grab That Power Baby!

Klover and Bo have come a long way since the first issue of Trover Saves the Universe. In the beginning, they could barely function and now they are escaping planets, solving mysteries, and taking on Dr. Kill in spectacular fashion. Trover Saves the Universe #4 is the first issue without Trover’s narration, showing that the series can stand on its own feet. It is now apparent that the series doesn’t feel like a spin-off or tie-in, it feels like a companion to the video game. Both pieces of media are just pieces of the larger world, and they both take full advantage of their genres. 

Tess Stone’s Trover Saves the Universe does what the video game really can’t do and vice versa. The video game knows what it is, and if you play it in VR, you’ll see that it is having a lot of fun with the medium. Stone’s contribution to the series is no different. Where the video game plays with the normal conventions of the medium, the comic does the same in its own way. Introduced in previous issues, Klover and Bo break the fourth wall, or at least demonstrate that they exist in a comic book, and bust out of panels and into “the void.” The void being depicted as white space makes for some interesting pages where Klover and Bo are peeking into different panels while falling into nothingness. Dr. Kill is the perfect villain for the story, and I can only assume his origin began with the question, “What if Doc Oc and Squidward had a baby?” Dr. Kill solidifies Trover Saves The Universe’s place as a comic book.