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Orbiter
Cover to Orbiter, art by Colleen Doran.
Date	April 2003
Page count	104 pages
Publisher	Vertigo
Creative team
Writers	Warren Ellis
Artists	Colleen Doran
Letterers	Clem Robins
Colourists	Dave Stewart
Editors	Art Young
ISBN	1-4012-0056-7

Orbiter is a graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran, published in 2003 by DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint.

Ellis and Doran, both spaceflight enthusiasts, dedicated Orbiter to the "lives, memories and legacies" of the astronauts who died in the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Synopsis

Ten years after the Space Shuttle Venture mysteriously disappeared, it returns. Of its original crew of seven, only one remains — and he is catatonic; also, there is sand from Mars in the shuttle's landing gear. Three scientists investigate the Venture and its occupant, to find out what happened.

Reception

Publishers Weekly compared "Orbiter"'s narrative structure to Ellis's earlier work Planetary, and commended Ellis for giving the story "emotional depth". Claude Lalumiere praised "Orbiter" for its "sincerity, its passionate engagement, and the bold inventiveness of its ideas", but overall considered that the plot moved too smoothly, with insufficient conflict; he also criticized Doran's portrayal of emotion. IGN's Hilary Goldstein concluded that the book "isn't for everyone", but emphasized its appeal to "dreamers and space cadets".

Publication history

The graphic novel was first published as a hardcover by Vertigo in April 2003 (ISBN 1-4012-0056-7) and as a softcover by Little Brown in May 2004 (ISBN 1-4012-0268-3). Titan Books published a British softcover in June 2004 (ISBN 1840237244).

References

1. ORBITER, reviewed at Publishers Weekly; published September 15, 2003; retrieved March 14, 2017
2. Orbiter, by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran, reviewed by Claude Lalumiere, originally published in the Montreal Gazette, August 2, 2003; archived at Infinity Plus October 5, 2003; retrieved March 14, 2017
3. Orbiter Review, by Hilary Goldstein, at IGN; published September 27, 2005; retrieved March 1, 2017

• Orbiter (hardcover) at the Grand Comics Database
• Orbiter (softcover) at the Grand Comics Database
• Orbiter at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)

• Use dmy dates from September 2013
• Comics by Warren Ellis
• 2003 comics debuts
• 2003 American novels
• 2003 graphic novels
• NASA in fiction
• Vertigo Comics graphic novels