Futura - Chapter 17

In the previous chapter of the Futura Saga our heroine makes a daring escape from captivity by causing the death of thousands of patrons of the Death Market. This installment from Planet Comics #59 (March 1949) doesn't continue much differently from issue #58 only because Futura's escape craft had limited seating, thereby probably reducing the collateral death toll to merely hundreds when the ship slammed into the water planet Oceania. Presumably, the pirate Yrina and Futura are the only survivors of the crash. The ultimate fate of the Star-Pirate is not clear since the effectiveness of a ray-gun and interpretive dance against sea monsters is dubious.

As usual Futura intrudes between two warring factions though this time she is more a spectator than participant in events. The scene is a familiar story of one invading culture eradicating the other. In this instance galactic fishing interests are inserting themselves into Oceania and at odds with the native population. While a water planet may have plenty of food available it is problematic that the fisheries are in the hunting range of the natives causing them distress as their less efficient farming methods can not compete with the high technology of the industrial fishing complex. One well-placed tractor beam can pull in anything edible for miles leaving the locals with nothing. It is through Futura's unexpected trespassing that some of the native populace is captured by the representatives of the fishing interests. This event will soon be important in the course of the final chapters of the story.

While this installment suffers from the same abrupt changes in scenery of some of the previous entries what is faithful is Futura's struggle to gain her freedom from slavery and become an independent citizen. It is the events that occur in this chapter that clearly sets up the finale to the Futura Saga.

I promise, more Futura by Monday!