A strong opening
Letter 44 starts out bold, it quickly sets the scene but doesn't skimp on the detail. We know what we need to know when we need to know it and the story moves forward at a nice pace. The opening to Letter 44 is very sci-fi and the short monologue would feel right at home within a space opera.The art style is very animated and boldly colored, it's not exactly to my taste, I prefer a more refined realistic look but it works well enough for this book and nothing should be taken away from that overall.
One of the things I liked most about the first issue is that right from the get go the new President is conflicted and faced with a monumental problem that he could never have prepared himself for. He is a honest and down to Earth character and it is clear he wants to do right by the people but when faced with the grim reality that we are not alone in the universe and that someone or something up there is in the advanced stages of building what we can only imagine is a devastating weapon honesty my not be the best policy.
There is a very nice transitional section where President Blades reads the namesake Letter 44 and we fluidly switch from Blades reading to ex President Carroll writing, this for me was a nice touch and worked really well, it was like the two President's were talking to one another though time and it wasn't an easy conversation for either of them.
The space crew from the off seem to be in a extremely dire situation, hundreds of millions of miles from home they have bound together to survive the harsh environment of deep space, they seem to have accepted that they are on a suicide mission and are committed to finding out as much about the alien construct as possible. It will be interesting to see how the President and the Crew work together with their limited communication abilities and the many unknowns that the mission will undoubtedly throw their way.
The final page leaves us with a taste of what to expect and what the crew and ultimately the entire human race are up against and I for one am definitely eager to learn more. Issue one is out now at a discounted price so their is no excuse for not picking it up and giving it a chance.