Galactic Is an Exquisite Space Opera that's Familiar but Fresh

It's hard to encapsulate exactly what's good about Galactic , the magazine-sized limited series comic from DSTLRY. It feels like a product of feeding the bulk of high-quality science fiction space films from the last century into a meat grinder to produce a delicious sausage.

Coincidentally, I devoured the second issue of Galactic by writer Curt Pires and artist Amilcar Pinna. It won't officially hit shelves until July 29 (FYI - pre-orders end 6/8/2026), but Weird City got an advanced copy...

Galactic follows bounty hunter Jecht who unwittingly finds himself embroiled in an intergalactic war of empires after wrapping up a job safely returning Chancellor Silva's missing daughter, Seriah. And it coincides with a contentious in-person meeting with the leader of a warring nation to officially terminate the marriage agreement between Seriah and his psychotic son. The meeting does not go well. When Jecht comes to Seriah's rescue by shooting her attacker on his way out of the palace, he inadvertently brings her back into the fold. Galactic is billed as both a love and war story, which both advance at a satisfying pace in this next installment.

What's refreshing about the series is that it doesn't spend its time carefully catching everyone up on canonical backstory, but still feels as premium as a tentpole franchise. Which one? All of them, maybe. Only bits and pieces that already work and don't need reinvention. Galactic does not concern itself with stopping to carefully differentiate itself from other big sci-fi tropes. It just makes them better.

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For instance, fretting that the relationship between main character smuggler/bounty hunter and his humanoid dog best friend is overly similar to Han and Chewie? Too bad, because this recalibration works way better (especially if you've ever given your dog best friend status). Or maybe that Galactic also similarly features a rule-breaking princess on the run, like long ago in some other galaxy far, far away? That's true for lots of space princesses, but none who get the benefit of Pinna's cinematic sequential art combined with Lee Loughridge's color choices. Even the warring political factions and 4D militaristic strategy in Galactic feels crisp and intriguing, without requiring a glossary from House Atreides.

Part one is available free via Neon Ichiban, (though I recommend the printed edition). Check out pages from the upcoming Galactic #2 below to tide you over until July.

Galactic #2 preview pages via DSTLRY