Wild Blue Yonder (Comics) | Review

What happens when the ground beneath humanity's feet becomes a death sentence? Writer Mike Raicht (Deadworld: Frozen Over, The Pack) and artist Zach Howard (The Cape, The Cape: 1969) answer with Wild Blue Yonder, a series from IDW Publishing that transforms post-apocalyptic survival into high-altitude warfare.

Radiation and pollution rendered Earth's surface uninhabitable, forcing survivors above the clouds. Life in the sky brings dangers: dwindling fuel supplies, bloodthirsty air pirates and desperate crews willing to kill for one more day aloft. This is diesel-punk meets Mad Max.

The series stands alone with no connection to previous or future arcs, making it accessible for new readers. What sets this post-apocalyptic story apart is its setting: instead of wastelands and highways, battles rage between aircraft, jetpack warriors leap between ships and survival depends on staying airborne when fuel runs dry.

Cola is a teenage fighter pilot living aboard The Dawn, a massive solar-powered aircraft that represents humanity's best hope for survival. Unlike every other ship, The Dawn doesn't burn fossil fuels. It runs on sunlight, making it immune to the fuel crisis choking other aircraft.

This makes The Dawn the most valuable target in the entire sky. Air pirate fleets hunt it relentlessly, hoping to capture the solar technology before their own fuel reserves run out. The crew faces constant attacks from desperate survivors who see seizing The Dawn as their only path to long-term survival in this airborne world.

Leading the hunt is The Judge, a ruthless commander determined to capture The Dawn at any cost. His fleet represents organized violence rather than random piracy. They're coordinated, well-armed and motivated by dwindling fuel supplies. Time is running out.

Cola's recruitment mission opens the series as she searches for crew members willing to risk their lives defending The Dawn. The rookie she brings aboard serves as the reader's entry point, learning the rules of sky survival. Trust is currency when betrayal means death.

Life above the clouds operates under harsh economics. The privileged escaped to the skies while the less fortunate remained on the toxic surface, mining and refining the coal and petroleum that keeps aircraft aloft. This class divide persists even as fuel scarcity threatens to collapse the entire system everyone depends on.

The Dawn's crew isn't united by nobility or idealism but by mutual survival and the knowledge that losing their ship means death. Internal tensions simmer as resources tighten and threats multiply. Raicht and Howard show how scarcity erodes trust rather than creating heroes.

Aerial combat dominates as jetpack-equipped fighters board enemy vessels mid-flight, planes engage in dogfights and crew members defend their ships with whatever ammunition remains. The battles feel kinetic and dangerous, emphasizing how vulnerable everyone is when combat happens thousands of feet above lethal ground.

The series explores what happens when hope becomes a weapon. The Dawn's solar technology represents salvation, transforming the aircraft into a moving target that attracts violence rather than safety. Raicht positions sustainability as curse when every survivor wants to steal it.

Betrayal arrives predictably from within The Dawn's crew. One member has been feeding information to The Judge's forces, setting up an inevitable confrontation. The transparency of the impending treachery doesn't generate suspense so much as fatalistic inevitability. The question becomes how much damage it causes.

The final confrontation between The Dawn and The Judge's armada delivers large-scale aerial warfare. Ships clash, fighters board vessels and sustainability hangs in the balance. Howard's artwork makes the chaos legible, tracking multiple battles without losing spatial coherence.

Wild Blue Yonder maintains kinetic energy. The pacing never stalls. Each issue escalates tension and pushes characters toward breaking points. It's action-adventure that prioritizes momentum, delivering what its premise promises without pretending deeper significance.

Zach Howard's artwork carries Wild Blue Yonder's visual identity with gritty, detailed linework that makes the world feel lived-in and deteriorating. His aircraft designs balance functionality with visual distinction, creating ships that look plausible as survival craft. Nelson Daniel's color work bathes the series in sepia tones and greens.

Howard excels at sequential storytelling, maintaining spatial coherence despite complex choreography involving multiple aircraft. His panel layouts guide readers through chaos without confusion, maintaining clarity about who's fighting whom and where they stand.

Mike Raicht's writing prioritizes plot momentum over character depth. The crew of The Dawn remains functional rather than memorable, serving their roles without developing distinctive personalities or compelling arcs. Cola gets the most development as teenage pilot protagonist but even she operates more as action vehicle.

The dialogue stays grounded in survival pragmatism without much personality. Raicht understands how to structure action sequences and maintain pacing but his characters rarely surprise readers. The writing delivers competent plot mechanics without attempting depth.

Wild Blue Yonder won't revolutionize post-apocalyptic fiction or diesel-punk aesthetics. Its core concept has been explored elsewhere and the betrayal subplot telegraphs obviously. The series works best embracing action-adventure thrills, delivering spectacle over suspense.

What the series does successfully is create visually compelling aerial warfare in a unique setting. The idea of humanity's remnants battling for resources thousands of feet above toxic wasteland delivers fresh perspective on post-apocalyptic themes. Howard and Daniel's artwork makes the sky feel dangerous and claustrophobic.

For readers interested in post-apocalyptic action prioritizing spectacle over substance, Wild Blue Yonder delivers a complete story in five issues. The collected edition gathers all chapters. It's fun, fast-paced survival fiction that knows what it wants and executes competently.

This is diesel-punk adventure for readers who want their apocalypses airborne and their combat high-altitude. Raicht and Howard understood that sometimes survival stories work best when they don't overcomplicate the premise at all. Wild Blue Yonder accomplishes that mission with kinetic efficiency and truly gritty visual style.

You can read Wild Blue Yonder through hardcover and trade paperback, still in print at most local comic-book shops, bookstores, online retailers and it's also available digitally for readers to access instantly on Amazon Kindle, ComiXology and IDW's own digital catalog.