THE EXPANSE
Corinna Bechko and Alejandro Aragon are bringing The Expanse back to comics
Ahead of season five, find out what happened off-screen in this new comic book series.
CORINNA BECHKO IS bringing the political themes of past work such as Invisible Republic to Boom! Studio’s new comic of The Expanse, which takes place between the fourth and fifth seasons of the Amazon Prime show.
“There’s so much going on between the characters during the fourth season, and so much turmoil between the various governments and nongovernmental entities, that the hardest part was deciding which story to tell,” says Bechko. Noting that while “you can expect to find a few Easter eggs”, she stresses that the four-issue miniseries is based around her two favourite characters: erstwhile UN
Secretary-general Chrisjen Avasarala, together with former Martian marine Bobbie Draper.
“I love their dynamic, because they are both human characters first and ‘female characters’ second,” continues Bechko. “Neither of them falls into the tired tropes that often afflict women in other sci-fi stories. Instead, they react as individuals, which makes writing them much easier.”
“Human Capital” begins with Avasarala, having lost a recent election, teaming up with Draper to mount a clandestine operation to restore her political position, before discovering a secret cabal that poses a far greater threat. “I don’t want to give too much away, but both are in relatively upsetting and less-than-powerful situations as we open,” explains Bechko. “Bobbie will spend her time on Mars, while Chrisjen has been more or less exiled to Luna. Hopefully, readers will enjoy seeing more of the day-today life of these places, as well as discovering some corners they haven’t seen before.”
Stating that “Mars looks absolutely amazing”, Bechko praises the work of artist Alejandro Aragon. “It truly is transporting,” she says. “I can’t wait for readers to spend time with the nuanced depictions of Bobbie and Chrisjen he’s brought to the pages. Through him, this miniseries really comes alive in a way that it never could through only my words.” SJ
The Expanse #1 is out now.