When Marvel Comics first announced their intention to bring European comics to the US, I immediately had flashbacks to DC Comics’ short-lived run with the North American publishing rights to the UK’s Rebellion line and the French Humanoids line of comics, which included reprints and new material for such well known books as 2000 AD, Judge Dredd and I am Legion, among others.

Although the amount of source material seemed to indicate a long and fruitful publishing agreement, American comics fans didn’t seem to have a taste for the European flavor of comics, and after only 1 year, DC ended their publishing of the Rebellion and Humanoids material.

Now, flash forward three years; it’s 2008 and Marvel has made a similar deal with another French comic publisher, Soleil Comics, one of the largest European comic publishers. Publishing some of Europe’s best-selling comic in English, it seems, is a like that of a fine wine; it seems to only get better with time. Since their American debut in April (Barbara Canepa and Alessandro Barbucci’s Sky Doll), Marvel’s Soleil “imprint” has caught the attention of many comic readers and made many, including myself, take another look at our European counter-parts.

Which brings us to Marvel/Soleil’s second English release, Universal War One. This mini-series, presented in three 48-page issues, tells the story of Purgatory Squadron, a band of “problem” pilots who are just one more “mistake” away from court-martial and prison. Thrown in the middle of a stalemate in a civil war between the core planets of our solar system and the corporate-controlled colonies of the outlying settlements, Purgatory Squadron inadvertently stumbles upon the prototype of a wormhole-weapon, who’s next target is Earth itself.

Featuring the art of Denis Bajram, and a well-crafted story by Bajram and Paul Benjamin, Universal War One delves into such themes as redemption, nature vs. nurture and family dynamic as the books’ characters struggle to find their places, in only in Purgatory Squadron, but in the universe as a whole. Containing all of the political intrigue, adult themes and sense of epic storytelling of Kevin Anderson’s The Saga of Seven Sons, Universal War One is a great piece of science fiction, combining space drama with quantum mechanics in an easy to absorb manner.

Overall, the story translates well into English and, although starting off a little slow, picks up by the end of the first issue and carries through to the last page of issue three. The only complaint I had with the book was with the placement of dialog balloons and caption boxes.

Speech balloons lacked any use of Joins between breaks in dialog and often the Tails point in only a general direction of the character speaking, which made following a little difficult. As for the caption boxes, there was no differentiation between characters, so I was a challenge to follow who’s internal dialog was progressing the story forward,

The Universal War One Premiere Hardcover is due out in stores December 10, 2008 from Marvel Comics.