2010 #1

Marvel's official comics adaptation of the 1984 film 2010 kicks off with this first issue of a two-part limited series, with the screenplay by Peter Hyams and Arthur C. Clarke's source novel both feeding into J. Marc DeMatteis's script, brought to life by the artistic team of Joe Barney, Larry Hama, and inker/colorist Tom Palmer. Tom Palmer's cover is a rich, atmospheric collage of deep-space tension: human faces loom large against a backdrop of swirling red cosmic light, a mysterious ghostly visage hovers in a darkened monolith-like rectangle, and suited astronauts navigate the hull of a spacecraft — identifiable as the Leonov — with Jupiter's moons and planets hanging in the distance. It's a moody, cinematic opener that captures the awe and unease at the heart of this science-fiction saga.