Traveling to Mars

Mark Russell and Roberto Dakar Meli’s 11-issue series for Ablaze Publishing follows a retired astronaut’s quiet, solitary journey to Mars—a deeply personal voyage that becomes a meditation on grief, purpose, and the vast, lonely beauty of space. Published from 2022 to 2024, the story balances intimate human emotion with the stark grandeur of interplanetary travel, anchored by Russell’s wry, contemplative writing and Meli’s evocative, painterly art. It matters as a thoughtful, character-driven sci-fi entry that prioritizes inner exploration over action, offering a poignant counterpoint to more bombastic space epics.