''Dark Matter'' is a four-issue science fiction

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series created by writers

Joseph Mallozzi Joseph Mallozzi (born 16 October 1965) is a Canadian writer and producer. He is most noted for his contributions to the ''Stargate SG-1'', '' Stargate: Atlantis'' and ''Stargate Universe'' television series and as showrunner of ''Dark Matter'' ...

and

Paul Mullie Paul Mullie is a screenwriter and producer. He is credited for writing episodes of '' Stargate Atlantis'', '' Largo Winch'', and '' Stargate SG-1''. He has also worked as executive producer on ''Stargate: Atlantis'' and is the co-creator of ''Dark M ...

. The story follows six individuals who wake up in a spacecraft with no memory of their past. The concept was originally intended for a television series, but was published through

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

with art by Garry Brown.Chris Arrant
Dark Matter interview

Newsarama Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS. History N ...

, 21 November 2011 On October 15, 2014,

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

announced they had picked up a 13-episode first season of a ''

Dark Matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not ab ...

'' TV series, which premiered on June 12, 2015. The

first episode A series premiere is the first aired installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. In the United States, many series premieres are aired in the fall time or, for mid-season replacements, either in the spring or ...

of the TV series adapts the plot of the first two issues, and the

second episode "Second Episode" is the second episode of the HBO television series ''The New Pope''. The episode was directed by series creator Paolo Sorrentino and was written by Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contrarello, and Stefano Bises. The episode takes place ...

adapts the latter two issues.

Publication history

Mallozzi credits ''

The Shield ''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series starring Michael Chiklis that premiered on March 12, 2002, on FX in the United States, and concluded on November 25, 2008, after seven seasons. Known for its portrayal of corrupt poli ...

'', ''

The Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 American war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph M ...

'', and the '' Thunderbolts'' as his inspiration for the concept. The series was originally designed for television, but was later altered into a comic series for

. Syfy and

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

, along with the original creators Mallozzi and Mullie, later adapted the comics to a television series that premiered on June 12, 2015 and ran for three seasons. The comic series was originally published as four individual issues from January to April in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, and collected as a graphic novel edition entitled ''Dark Matter: Rebirth'' released in October 2012.

Plot

After waking onboard a spacecraft with no memories, four men, a woman and a girl arrive at a mining

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

, the craft's preset destination. They land and meet the locals, who tell the crew about a group of mercenaries called the Raza being sent to kill the colonists so a corporation named Ferrous Corp can claim the planet. Upon returning to their ship to discuss helping or abandoning the colonists, the crew learn from files recovered by the ship's service android that they are the mercenaries the locals fear and each of them is guilty of a wide range of terrible crimes (with the exception of the girl, whose name and record are not in the files). When Ferrous Corp's army arrives to destroy the colony, four of the crew members join with the colonists to repel the invaders. The other two take the spacecraft and negotiate a contract for the colony with a different corporation, the Mikkei Combine. The invading Ferrous Corp troops leave, and the crew return to their spacecraft, unsure of where they will go next and where their journey will take them.

Critical reception

The series received positive reviews, and the first issue was the 256th best selling comic by units in January 2012.Monthly Comic Sales January 2012
www.comichron.com

References

{{reflist 2012 comics debuts Dark Horse Comics titles Comics adapted into television series Fiction about outer space Fiction about amnesia Science fiction comics Space opera comics