FTL, Y’All!: Tales From the Age of the $200 Warp Drive
Edited by C. Spike Trotman and Amanda Lafrenais
Iron Circus Comics
Copyright 2018 by Iron Circus Comics

As an “Old Fogey”, I remember when comic books were something you found in the checkout lines at the supermarket, or perhaps in a bookstore or newsstand. They were just “there”; I never had the inclination (or money, or time) to care about them. And that was pretty much what most people thought of them. Sure, we all knew about Superman and Batman (and Archie), but that was thanks to TV. No one ever took them seriously.

Then Art Spiegelman published Maus, and showed quite convincingly that the format could indeed produce works of real merit. Rather suddenly, all the comic geeks demanded to be heard, because there really was some good stuff being done in the medium. Though I have to differ with the term “graphic novel”; most of the works aren’t long enough to be called a novel – “illustrated short story” is better.

I still didn’t get into them, though. Same reasons – didn’t care to. Then a chance pickup of a little sample flyer from Iron Circus Comics piqued my interest, so I thought I’d give their website a look.

FTL, Y’All! is an anthology of stories based on a simple premise. In the near future, plans for a faster-than-light drive appear online. And the parts are all readily available for the cost of around $200, and can be easily assembled without any special skill.

What happens then, when pretty much everyone who wants to can build their own starship?

The promotional blurb mentions that the stories are about “What would happen if we could escape?” The implication being that the situation on Earth is so bad that people need to leave for the stars. Well, some of the stories do have that background (police state, environmental collapse, etc.) – but not all.

“Soft Physics” by Blue Delliquanti has the protagonist exploring the weirdness out where physics works a little differently as a means of escaping their own past. Kay Rossbach’s “M.S.P.I.S.P.” keeps things in the Solar System, and shows that commercial travel won’t get any better. In “The Senior Project”, Maia Kobabe writes about someone who chooses to stay behind. Jamie Kaye and Sunny look at a really long distance relationship in “Passing Through”…. Many of them have very little to do with the actual travel; instead they just happen to be set in a milieu where interstellar travel has become commonplace.

And yes, there are stories about aliens and alien civilizations.

The stories – nineteen in all – are quite varied in style and tone, both in the art and the tale itself. This is to be expected in any anthology, especially a “commissioned” collection like this (where the contributors were invited to submit a story on the stated theme).

Overall, the collection works. All the stories are worth your time. Such a simple request – “Write a story on this theme” – and such a wonderful diversity in the results.

It should be pointed out that Iron Circus publishes a good deal of “adult” fiction that’s “NSFW”, but the stories in FTL, Y’All! do NOT fall into that category.