Red's Planet
is a Science Fiction webcomic by Eddie Pittman, turned into print form. In the format of a Graphic Novel, it is divided into chapters.
"Red" is a 10-year-old Foster Kid who begins the comic in the care of a Mrs. Foster. She insists that she is not an orphan, and therefore not in need of adoption. During a bout of childish runaway (another of several she's attempted in fact), Red is picked up by the local cops and set to be sent to a juvie facility since this was her last offense. However a spaceship suddenly flies overhead and beams up the police car with Red still in it. The ship takes off into space but crash lands on a supposedly desert planet. Red finds herself among other alien abductees plunked from their homes and, though off to a rough start, starts to befriend them in the hopes of surviving the planet and find out who abducted them and for what reason.
The series was put on hiatus due to Eddie's personal life getting rather busy to work on it (he's an art designer at Disney and has worked on shows like Phineas and Ferb ). Eventually on Oct 1 2015, Eddie revealed the webcomic was converted into a graphic novel and the first volume was released in April 2016 featuring both the first few chapters as well as new material from where the webcomic left off. While awesome news for the continuation for the series, Eddie likewise revealed that the webcomic will not be updating further due to publishing rights though he will keep the site up for the foreseeable future.
The first volume was released in the spring of 2016. The second volume is due in fall of 2017.
Tropes included
- A Friend in Need: A blue lion who tells Red what she did and helps her and Tawee flee.
- Alien Abduction: The inciting incidents.
- Arcadia: the Cawaweeans live on one.A small agrarian people who lead a very simple life farming the beautiful green hills and valleys of the tiny planet Cawawee.
- Berserk Button: Being called "Red". Ironically we never actually learn her real name as of yet.
- At the end of the second collection, it is revealed to be Alice Little.
- Blatant Lies: Red telling her companion that they're resting for him.
- Captain Obvious: A robot comments when she blathers on the translation.
- The Chase:
- The Sheriff and his deputy get into one after he picks up Red when they think they're pursuing a speeding vehicle (it's a UFO). Poor Red finds herself bouncing in the back of the backseat since the sheriff's car doesn't have any seatbelts.
- Red and her companion, chased by a stampede of little blue aliens
- Chiaroscuro: How Red escapes the crashed spaceship.
- Coincidental Broadcast: Opens with a talk show about alien abductions and UFOs.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: How Red acquires a companion.
- Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes: When she escaped the downed ship.
- Department of Child Disservices: Red thinks the sheriff will just send her back to another foster home when he catches her trying to run away again. However since this was her last strike, he tells her that she's the state's problem now and will have to be sent to a juvenile facility.
- Fiery Redhead: Red
- Ghibli Hills: The valley. Of course, the blue lion finds their arrival a disturbance in his peaceful life.
- Gilligan Cut: The blue lion announces he's not taking them. Next page? A cavalcade across the desert.
- Heroes Gone Fishing: A character is introduced setting up to relax, fishing.
- Hollywood Darkness: The crashed spaceship's interior.
- Humans Through Alien Eyes: Despite a lot of the aliens having some odd features and quirks, they isolate themselves from Red upon talking to her.
- Inevitable Waterfall: When Red falls in the river.
- Jerkass:
- Some of the foster kids at Red's recent foster home. One sticks his finger in Red's breakfast while asking it she'll eat it. And another eats all of it while she's dealing with the former.
- A good number of the aliens Red meets. May be a symbolic subtext to the above.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Red herself as well as the blue lion.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Red accidentally leaves a shoe behind when the cop car she's in is beamed up to space, taking her with it (she was trying to slip out the window and got a foot through when it happened). She loses the other one to a Jerkass alien when she briefly knocked unconscious during a struggle for food. Leaving her stuck in her socks and remaining that way through the first two volumes until she finally gets some replacements (albeit mismatched colors) at the end of the second volume.
- Meaningful Name: Mrs. Foster, a foster parent. Red lampshades it as ridiculous.
- Mistaken for Afterlife: The alien planet.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Feed one alien, face a stampede of them.
- Oh, Crap!: Red when the officer tells her that this was her last strike in running away from a foster home and that she'll have to be sent to juvie. Good thing that UFO abducted her when it did.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Despite hating being called "Red", her real name is never revealed.
- At the end of the second collection, it is revealed to be Alice Little.
- Party Scattering: Red loses her companion because they are pursued into rocks, and then she falls down a hole into a river. They manage to regroup later though.
- Pet the Dog: Red does, after a bit, act in a friendly manner toward some aliens.
- Speed Stripes: Fleeing the bobalux.
- Tastes Like Friendship: She offers food.
- They Have the Scent!: A dog first notes the alien ship.
- Translation Convention: The aliens talk about "extraterrestials" meaning people not from their planet.
- Translator Microbes: Gibbervox, administered by a robot.
- Webcomic Print Collection: In the transition offline. As stated, all stories afterward will be in print.
- Written Sound Effect: SPLOOOSHH!!!
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Red thinks it science-fictional, and so tries to deploy a whole mishmash of tropes from SF that she is familiar with. She badly freaks out several aliens.
