The Last Watchtower by Karl Slominski. Black Panel Press, 2026. 9781990521546. 154pp.
Cal, an astronaut living on the moon, is sixteen years into a thirty-year assignment. He records Earth’s disasters (natural and man-made) with the help of Blip, a robotic AI that thinks its resources are underutilized. The pair send frequent reports off to Earth; it’s routine, but sometimes the details get too real for Cal. All the death and suffering he observes gets to him despite his lunar strolls, his exercise routine, and the letters he writes to his wife.
Then, in a crater, Cal finds a woman. She’s not wearing a space suit but somehow she’s alive. She provides a very human perspective on what Cal is witnessing, and how removed he seems to be from it all. And she gets him to talk about why he’s really there.
(In an afterword, I believe) Slominski explains the Covid origins of the graphic novel, including how (and why) the book feels so raw. I absolutely loved the art.
