Escape from Terra is an anthological look into a future where socialist revenue agents rove the solar system, bringing any renegade and independently wealthy planets and moons under their collections treaty. Guy Caillard is a Terran revenue agent on a mission to Ceres, a planet with seemingly no governing officials and no taxation of annuity. Upon discovering that a United World Revenue Service employee is traipsing about their planet and asking too many inconvenient questions, the people of Ceres must band together to divert the UWRS's attention and retain their capital independence.
Escape from Terra is overtly and unabashedly libertarian in its often times skewed commentary on a post-financial crisis homologue of America. Though some of their points seem to hit the nail directly on the head when considering the heavy taxation of the middle class in lieu of "too big to fail" corporations weaseling their way out of their debts to the government, other points stray down a slightly less logical and more Glenn Beck-ian path. It is these misapprehensions, like the idea that seatbelts were made mandatory by law, so legislature forcing citizens to wear helmets in the shower is the next consequent step, that are laughably alarmist and unjustly hyper-critical of American law. Sandfort and Beiser seem to fancy themselves as modern day Ayn Rands, championing individual rights and vilifying socialism, premonishing readers against communal absurdities like uniform seasonal climate controls and interstellar tax auditors. I cannot however fault the writers of this book for having their own opinions, and the book really is quite well-scripted and beautifully illustrated. But, the material isn't really ever as subtle or clever as it supposes itself to be, and thusly plods through several strips of tedium and ham-fisted comedy before landing its readers into the meat of the book. Some of Escape from Terra's wittier scenes focus more on individual characters' personality quirks than its criticisms of social reform. Yet some characters, Guy for instance, are transparent stereotypes. Of course libertarian authors see the proponents of social change as European, elitist, panty-wastes. So, tell me something I don't know.
Escape from Terra does successfully skyline the imperialistic nature of the US, as the fictive parallel UWRS attempts to assimilate rogue celestial bodies into their governing union against the popular will of those planets' inhabitants. Though, this book is sort of hit or miss when it comes to insightful and comedic critiques, the writers do a far better job of addressing subjects like music and the right to bear arms.
Artist LEE OAKS! is in fine form in these strips. Someone needs to sign this man to a larger publishing contract. I'd love to see his work a little more unconfined. As far as storytelling goes, this book is passable, but in regards to satire, which is ostensibly what this compendium of ideological farce aspires to, Escape from Terra flounders at its best attempts.
Escape from Terra Volume 1 collects the first 315 web strips from BigHeadPress.com.
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