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Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if gravity just disappeared out of thin air? Luckily for you, Skyward: Vol. 1, written by Joe Henderson, illustrated by Lee Garbett, and colored by Antonio Fabela, is here to answer your pleas!
The Story
At a point in time similar to the real-world present, a father puts his child to sleep, and the mother goes out for a run. Suddenly, the father notices that everything around him begins to float and is seemingly prepared for this. This is, until he looks outside and watches his beloved wife, Lilly, floats up into the sky, with no sign of coming back down. The father, Nathan, hurries back into the house to check up on his baby, Willa, only to find her happily floating about in her room.
Fast-forward 20 whole years, where Willa is seen floating across the Chicago skyline, making deliveries. As she soars across the city, she says hello to her friends Edison and Joan. Willa almost gets mugged on her delivery route and decides to recklessly shoot a pistol to propel herself away from the action, resulting in a very close call with death. After making her delivery, she stops by her house, where we find a disheveled Nathan Fowler, who appears to be working out and bound to surfaces in order to simulate a gravity-like environment. Willa proposes the idea of her tagging along with her company in exploring places outside of the city, but her father claims it is too dangerous for her.
Willa deems her father crazy, even after explaining to her the “gravity” of their situation (yes, pun 100% intended), and claims that he has a way to reverse the anomaly. She leaves and goes to her workplace to consult her friends. While talking to them, she notices that a man named Roger Barrow is on the TV. Roger Barrow essentially made millions by helping anyone and everyone adapt to their new lifestyles. Willa is then told that Roger Barrow worked on the same project that her father did, leading her to want to speak to Barrow about her father and her father’s crazy remedy for the world.
Meeting Barrow
Although her friends try to talk her out of it, Willa still goes into the city to meet Barrow in person. She was mistaken as a robber by the bouncers and was immediately chased by multiple security guards. Fortunately, Edison happened to be in the area and saved Willa. She continued with her plan, eventually making it into the building where Barrow was using special magnetism shoes that Edison gave her.
In the building, many rich folks are talking amongst themselves, including Barrow. Willa makes her way towards him and eventually speaks with him but is immediately brushed off. It isn’t until Willa exclaims that Nathan Fowler is her father that Barrow’s attention is caught. According to Barrow, Nathan was dead, and that he had been worried about him ever since the day gravity disappeared. Barrow agrees to talk more with Willa, and she is told to wait where she was until he returned, to which the story cuts to Barrow and his attendant discussing the danger that both Willa and her father present to him.
Barrow rejoins with Willa, and they begin talking about most of what Willa knows. In return, Barrow reveals his past with Nathan as well as disclosing that he knew about the impending phenomena and chose not to stop it. Nathan, on the other hand, worked very hard to do the opposite. Willa, confused about the information she was just given, is then beaten up by Barrow to find out Nathan’s location. As it turns out, Barrow hoped Nathan was dead because to Barrow, Nathan was a liability to him and his intentions to profit off of the anomaly.
On The Run
Willa retaliates and narrowly escapes the building, desperately trying to avoid the guards that were on her tail. Luckily for Willa, Joan was nearby and agreed to help Willa with her situation. After transporting Willa through many different places, they eventually have a run-in with some guards, which Willa narrowly avoids, yet again. Willa escapes into the night towards her house, only to find that her home is in shambles.
It turns out that the intruders were NOT Barrow’s men, but merely the robbers Willa encountered on her delivery run. Nathan put all of his working out to good use and took care of them. Willa told her father what had happened to her and told him they needed to get out of the city. After her father refuses, Willa knocks him out and takes his body with her to her workplace.
Willa learns from her co-worker that Edison was taken hostage by Barrow and would only give him back in return for Nathan. Willa knew this wasn’t an option and devised a very reckless rescue plan involving the rainstorm nearby. As prepared as she was, she noticed her father had gone missing, leading her to worry about his safety due to his lack of knowledge of the outside world.
The Rescue
Nathan was briefly caught in the large orb of rain, almost leading to his death, but Willa showed up to save the day. Willa explains her plan to Nathan, and for once, he is on board. Willa then makes her way to Barrow’s building to rescue Edison and encounters Barrow. Willa strategically makes her way into the building, floods it, and retrieves Edison.
When Willa and Edison reunite with Nathan and all seem alright, Barrow emerges from the water and holds Willa at gunpoint. Willa resists and ends up propelling both of them up in the air, to which Barrow pushes her up so that he can go down, leaving Willa helpless in the sky. In an effort to save her daughter, Nathan sacrifices himself by pushing her downwards, causing him to float even more upwards…
Willa knows what she must do now: avenge her father and revert the world to the way it was before the anomaly. Unfortunately, Barrow is still alive and will be actively hunting her down, but she understands that risk and chooses to continue anyway. The story ends with her, alone, on a train going away from Chicago, approaching the unknown.
The Substance
I thought the idea for Skyward: Vol. 1 was absolutely genius and really unique because, before this story, I had never really come across any sort of story or game that ever dealt with a low-gravity Earth. The way the story presented and progressed this concept was executed quite well, especially through the characters of Nathan Fowler and Roger Barrow.
The dichotomy structured by these two ultimately revealed the true nature of the strange phenomena of the world. After his wife tragically passed away when she floated too high, Nathan, a man afraid of the outside world, sought to reverse the anomaly. Still, Roger, a man willing to risk the world to attain wealth, capitalized on the anomaly and urged society to live with it.
The Minutiae
Lee Garbett’s incredible art style in Skyward: Vol. 1 helps bring the low-gravity world to life. Not only do each of the characters have designs that radiate personality and distinctiveness, but the design of the entire world around them captures the essence of a “somewhat overgrown, but not really” Earth.
It isn’t just Garbett’s talent that shapes Skyward: Vol. 1’s world, however. The coloring from Antonio Fabela helps bring out the qualities of both the characters and the environment. I noticed that most of the colors in the story were relatively warm and lively, which I thought was a neat touch. I feel like the bright and cheery colors reflect the personality of Willa and the future ahead of her.
The Verdict
Skyward: Vol 1 is a really great introduction to the strange world it presented. Given the tragic events of the last few pages, it would seem that Willa has quite the journey ahead of her to change the world to the way it used to be, but I’m very excited to read about what happens next. For those of you at home who adore anything sci-fi, I highly recommend Skyward: Vol. 1 and the issues that follow it!
