I thought this graphic erotic sci fi story was ok. It didn’t have a huge story line as it was only 105 pages but it was a good read and quite cute.

In a world where a group of scientists decided to leave Earth behind because of dangerous changes on the planet. This book is about a group of younglings... well the first generation born on their space home. We follow them and their sexual encounters with others and their point of thought that no one should be pinned down to one person. I thought the story was interesting and the characters were horny rabbits LOL. Silly story!

You know those American teenagers right, and how all they want to do is eat cheeseburgers, forget about anything belonging to the past, and just shag anyone of any gender, preferably three times a day? Well, the makers of this book think that's the way, and it seems that in the rarefied environment of a space station going nowhere, but orbiting Earth until Gaia gets to redress a few man-made imbalances, there is no other kind of American teenager. Yes, dear reader, that's the future – nobody will ever show any gender, size or colour bias whatsoever, as long as they get a thrice-daily tupping. And that will be the future of mankind. No literature, no music, no decent conversation, no religion, no good home décor. Just rogering. The contents of this book posit this as a utopia, hard-won by some hard-wearing teens, and cannot fail to see any problems with that. It therefore is clearly too childish, inane and silly to get worked up about. But sixty years after the first teeny-bopper "hey, we won the war, let's dance, shock the old folks and have pre-marital sex" stories, you'd think something more narratively interesting than a complete rewrite of that would be on the cards. One and a half stars.

This was an interesting read. Young adults, trying to find their place in society. A story of all ages, all generations...

A very interesting and intricately woven tale of a polyamorous couple who want to take it to the next level. Major points for creativity and openness.

The background info for this story is basically that a group of scientists left earth to live in space because of vague climate change stuff and this follows their children who, as the first generation born in space, have much more open ideas of sex and relationships. It actually makes sense in a way that they would feel this way based on their new living situation, but I wish the story had gone a bit more in detail with that aspect of the plot instead of just focusing so much on the sex.

Yeah, there is a TON of sex in this so it's definitely not for kids. It was a fun read and I didn't mind the sex by any means [it was actually really great to see some cute chubby ladies with realistically drawn bodies get some lovin'], but I feel like the story should have either focused on the societal and behavioral changes of the characters compared to their parents OR just been a straight up erotica graphic novel where people bang in space because reasons. It tried to both in a very limited number of pages and as a result both things just felt kind of half-finished.

Also just an observation that while everyone in this story does seem to be bi/pan/poly, all the sex scenes are M/F so if that is going to bother you then you might want to skip this. I'm still not really sure how I feel about the whole thing in general, but I will say it's a bit weird to present a book as being lgbtia and then have several fairly graphic M/F sex scenes and only a few kisses with the same sex couples. [And yes I know it's still lgbtia because 'the b stands for bisexual' but you have to admit it seems a bit shady]

This a romp of a read. Its a graphic novel set in the future where humans have left earth and live in space. Its a interesting look at what would happen if we left earth and there was a generation who were not born on earth who had different values. This is not suitable for younger viewers as there are many scenes of a sexual nature.

The future is queer AF!

Out of the ruins of old Earth blossoms a new culture that’s open, sexually liberated, and queer AF!

Twenty-year-old Rigo is an alien, of sorts: a human being born in space. Of Earth, but not from Earth. Rigo and her peers are generation of pioneers: space, political, social, sexual. The California‘s motto – “Serve the Greater Good” – is applicable to all areas of life on the ship, including the bunks. Among the tweens, teens, and young adults, monogamy is seen as taboo: it encourages social isolation and jealousy and works against peak genetic variation. “Friends with benefits” kinda sorta goes without saying; same-sex couplings aren’t just tolerated, but accepted without question; and polyamory is the norm. Even the ‘rents are a little kinky!

So when Rigo begins feeling a little too drawn to Carver, her queer and geeky lab mate, she’s reluctant to give voice to these feelings for fear of being ostracized. Not to mention, coming as out conventional and old school, like her scientist parents. What’s a curvy, pansexual, polyamorous refugee girl to do?

OPEN EARTH probably isn’t for everyone. There’s not much of a plot, save for Rigo’s attempt to navigate her love life while keeping her self-identity intact. While technically a science fiction comic, the story could take place anywhere. Or maybe not: perhaps it will take nothing less than hundreds of years and millions of miles from our current state of being to embrace such a radical and liberated (dare I say socialist?) ethos.

Anyway, I enjoyed the characters and the society and the general world-building. There’s wonderful representation here, and I’m not just talking gender identity and sexual orientation. I’d love to see additional stories set in this ‘verse, perhaps featuring characters we’ve already met (Rigo’s parents being first on the list!), or those from California’s past or future.

Open Earth is the first original graphic novel from Limerence Press, the Oni Press imprint dedicated to erotic and sex education comics. As expected, it has several diverse and explicit sex scenes.

Unfortunately, the actual story isn’t as fleshed out or lovingly portrayed. As written by Sarah Mirk and illustrated by Eva Cabrera, this is about the culture clash between the generations on a space station. Rigo’s parents came from earth, but she and her friends have different rules and expectations about sex.

This includes giving up monogamy. Rigo has sex with Carver and Hex (another guy, in zero-G). We see Franklin (guy) with Atwood (girl), while we’re told Rigo and Franklin have also been together. (We don’t see any non-het sex portrayed in this book.) The whole time, Rigo is pondering whether it’s possible to partner with someone within this framework. She isn’t sure it’s what she wants or whether it’s the influence of her monogamous Earth-born parents.

It’s great seeing a happy, curvy Latina woman, and the sex scenes work well. Good science fiction requires a “what if” idea, though, and this one — how a communal environment would affect morals — is underdeveloped. The dialogue early on between Rigo and her dad about how things have changed is flat and overly expository. It, and scenes like it, also means that we’re a third of the way through the story before we get to the point of its existence: the making out.

That makes Open Earth a cute diversion, but not a particularly memorable one. I’m glad it exists, as I’d like to see more erotic graphic novels that include sex as part of a story (instead of the sole point, as in porn), but I also hope that they’ll be better structured and more fully formed than this one.

Open Earth is a story following Rigo, a girl in the distant future born on a space-station, who is trying to deal with her life, her relationships, and her feelings. This comic was a delight! It was very sex-positive and had its spicy moments, but the premise of the story is based around Rigo tackling her feelings and how she makes a decision based on them. I am trying to keep this vague because its worth reading and finding out for yourself. There isn't much suspense or drama but it is a light fun read. This was a glimpse into a world in the distant future and I wish there was more! Definitely worth a read.

Honestly, I'm in two minds about this. There were good points and bad points, and some were in an indescribable grey area.

Let's start with the art. It's simple with nice colouring, which gets the job done. But I feel like, as acceptable as it is, it's also lacking in some ways. This is a story set upon a space station in the future, so obviously the world is different to that which we know, and therefore I feel like more details in the art would have given it more of a tone rather than it just being another place where characters exist. If that makes sense? There's no real feel to the location, nothing that expresses life there beyond what we're told in clumpy info dumps scattered throughout. It would have been nice for there to be more detail in the backgrounds rather than the majority being mere blank spaces of one colour or another. The shots from outside of the space station aren't detailed, either, though you can get the gist of what the ship looks like, there's nothing that stands out, that gives it any particular vibe. It really is just there, where the characters are, and that's that. So, yeah, I mean, there's nothing wrong with the art - it's whole, and it's simplistic, but I just feel that, given the setting, more detail would have been better, whereas if it had been set on Earth where we know how most places look, then our imaginations can fill in the rest, but here we're not prompted with all that much to trigger the imagination into filling in the blanks. Good art, but room for improvement given the setting, basically, because it is nice art overall.

Also, I understand that this is considered an erotica graphic novel, though I'm not sure there's enough detailed sex in the content for it to truly count, if I'm honest, it seemed overly tame overall on that front, but I also think the plot was left by the wayside. There were a fair few info dumps, but they more or less all gave us the same information - something happened to the Earth, though it's not specifically noted as to what, just, something (global warning plays a part, at a guess, but it never states it, and there appears to be more to it than that), California opened the 'gates' to Mexico to make Spanglish the main language (not only is it American-focused, as always, no mention of the rest of the world as per, but also there's no real mention of the rest of the states, either, which seems odd - what happened to everyone else? If global warming flooded California, surely the middle of the county survived, or, did it? No one knows, because there's nothing given to us), the 'first generations' of the station love freely, apparently, without question, except for those who lived on Earth and their monogamous coupling. Erotica it may be, but come on, there's potential for a great plot here, the setting is interesting, what we are told is also interesting, though it might be more so because of how little is given and how much there is to find out, and yet so little plot. The characters aren't given much in the way of character development, either, because there's little we know about any of them beyond the fact that there appears to be a group of five friends (two female, three male) who all like to have sex with one another, and we don't even know if there's any romantic feelings between any of the characters, if it's purely sex, or a mixture of both - the main character, however, does choose to partner with someone come the end of the story, but even then it doesn't clearly state it has a romantic bond between them, just that it's something special, and their relationship will remain as open as before amongst the five of them. I feel disappointed in that, because there's no real connection to the space station part of the plot, and there's also no room for much connection between the characters, either, and I do love to discover characters, to see them stand out as individuals, but they all seem to be the same with different faces, if I'm honest, and that's a little sad when the potential is there. So, no real plot to speak of, and it seems like being in space in the future is an excuse not to have to look at polyamorous as a 'problem', which it isn't, anyway, and the characters aren't developed well, I could barely keep up with matching the names to the faces since two of the males appear the same, more or less. But, moving on.

For all its failings, the diversity within this graphic novel is refreshing, even if it does seem like that's all the story cares about focusing on without developing anything else to make it stand out that much more or make it overly special. More than half of the characters we know of, and those in passing, are people of colour, mostly of Mexican decent, or, of a Latin origin, at least, with one main black character, though it is lacking any signs of Native, Asian and/or Middle Eastern representation amongst others, unless I blinked and missed it somehow. I think if there's a point to make everyone diverse, it's only fair to include as many peoples as possible, though I understand it's a kind of 'write what you know' thing. Also, the fact that it's people in a committed relationship between two people that are the ones to be frowned upon, who are looked at as standing out and being different rather than everyone else considered 'first generations' who fuck anything that moves. See, I'm all for representing polyamorous relationships, to paint them as nothing out of the ordinary, but, like with bisexual characters, implying that it automatically means freely swinging towards anyone and everyone is a little questionable to me. It's the future, they're in space, I get it, things change, life is different, though clearly not too far away from the last of the born-Earthlings, and it kind of leaves the impression (to those too ignorant to know any better) that anyone who is open to and able to partake in a polyamorous relationship is sex mad and incapable of giving it a rest for five minutes. As a bisexual, and therefore someone who's had to live with that kind of attitude around me whether I've been out to people or not, it leaves me feeling a little uncomfortable - for all the good messages, that one isn't the best - it would have been nice to see more romantic feelings behind some of the relationships involved, and to those who don't have romantic desires, then to state it clearly.

That's another thing, nothing is stated, it's all left wide open and swinging freely, and I think that's unrealistic considering it's only one generation after the last Earth-born generation. Sexual orientations? None mentioned. Romantic orientations? None of those stated, either. Gender identities? Definitely not. Asexuals? Forget those, everyone is addicted to sex. Transgender? Also, no. It's making a point to be diverse, but it paints polyamorous relationships in a bad light by making it seem like no one shares anything even remotely romantic, no clear lines on who is attracted to who and in what way or why. Also, and, if I'm honest, this is my biggest issue - the main character is shown having sex with two of the three males, implied she's been with the third, and walks in on the other naked female, but the closest to a same-sex relationship is a kiss on the cheek from one male to another. Are the same-sex relationships depicted? No, they are not. Does the main female character find the secondary female character attractive in a sexual and/or romantic way? We'll probably never know. It's sad, that for something focusing on diversity, the biggest issue of the lot is same-sex relationships amongst the mess of the five main characters, and we're given one chaste kiss on the cheek with implications that there may or may not be something sexual between the two men. If this is purely about polyamorous relationships of the heterosexual kind, then why paint it has a LGBTQ+ graphic novel without any clear representation of it that stands out? Perhaps it was left out because some of them would land in the bisexual category, and it might (would) have come across in a poor light with everyone doing anything that walks by? Perhaps it wasn't considered at all. Perhaps it's written by heterosexuals who don't want <i>that</i> in their graphic novel (and yet didn't not want to give us something, so obviously a chaste cheek kiss will do)? Again, if that's the case, don't paint it as an LGBTQ+ story when it's clearly not. Anyone of any orientation, sexual or romantic, or any sex or gender, can be in a polyamorous relationship, but if there are no LGBTQ+ relationships clearly shown and/or stated, then I don't think it's fair to label it as such, and one blink-and-you'll-miss-it kiss on the cheek hardly counts. Why should we see several other opposite-sex people having sex, but no sign of same-sex receiving the same treatment? I find this questionable. As always, the queers are ignored, erased, bar one brief scene, which is no doubt there only to keep us 'satisfied'.

On the whole, it does give a positive message about diversity, but it's also careless in the way that it attempts to show the differing people of the world all the while excluding those most likely to read something like this, especially when it's claimed to be aimed towards them. Certain people of colour get a great deal out of this, as does the polyamorous population, which is shown to be 'normal' to these 'first generation' twenty year olds, and the message that 'honesty is what keeps us alive' is a clear one, the only clear one beyond the variations of skin colour across the pages, because to be in a polyamorous relationship, communication is vital in making it work, but the fact that these kids don't appear to have any other motive beyond pleasuring each other sexually, it also falls on its own sword a little. How hard would it have been to portray the varying forms of love? All relationships take different forms, and this would have been the perfect platform to express that, to enlighten those who need it and bring together those who live it. But it fell short. And the lack of any true LGBTQ+ characters, for me, lets this down greatly. I admit, as a whole, I read it in one sitting, I read it quite quickly despise being a slow reader, and it was gripping while I was reading it, so the author and artist managed to get that right, but all the messages this is supposed to be putting out there in a positive light all have negativity surrounding them purely because nothing was clearly stated or declared (a lie by omission is still a lie), and because it's aimed at the LGBTQ+ community without any real representation - a guy kissing another guy's cheek and others joking about their possible sexual encounters in passing that one time does not count in the slightest - that's the kind of treatment we've had for years, and I would have thought by now people understood that erasure is just as harmful and damaging as outright negativity directed at one group or another - as a bisexual, again, I know personally how damaging and harmful erasure can be, and therefore where the plot failed to set much of a tone and the characters set one far too much the wrong way, the erasure of queers and genderqueers everywhere is what sets the tone for me. I wanted to like this, I did enjoy it for what it was, but for something supposedly setting out to put across positive messages, it ended up backfiring badly. It seems as if Latin peoples and overly-sexual polyamorous people without any clear sense of relationships one way or another were the only true audience for this, which begs the question why it's aimed at us and not put in the general erotica category where us queers and genderqueers are always erased, anyway, and we expect nothing less. But this, put in the LGBTQ+ category without any real representation and a harmful message of erasure? I'm sorry to say it lets it down for me, greatly, it was thoughtless and careless, and harmful to all those LGBTQ+ people in polyamorous relationships, as well as to all those in poly relationships that have to live with being accused of having sex with anything that moves - erotica it may be, but every time the main character walked into another room, she ended up having sex with someone else. In our reality, she would have been on the Jeremy Kyle show discussing her severe sex addiction since she thought about nothing else of importance; she was nothing else of importance - we knew nothing about her beyond being a 'first generation' while her parents were from Earth, that's literally all we learnt about her apart from all the sex she has non-stop. I'm all for people who are sexually active, I'm pleased for them, but when it becomes the sole purpose of someone's existence and nothing more, then it's crossed the line to being a problem.

The only real positives I can take from this? Certain people of colour get a good look in for once, and I liked that, it was nice to see that not only within a story, but also in colour as well, to give it that extra point. And the fact that the main character is on the larger side, which doesn't seem to deter any of her sexual partners has it often does in reality, which was also a refreshing change, and more so that she appeared to be quite happy in and of herself (for all we got to see, anyway). But the LGBTQ+ representation just wasn't there for me, at all, and as several of the characters were drawn in a somewhat androgynous way to the point where I struggled to decide if their sex was male or female until it was stated with pronouns as to their gender, there was a great opening for transgender and genderqueer representation right there just screaming out, which is something I also relate to, but the potential that was so great was wasted so poorly. Basically, larger women of Latin American origins who enjoy sex, sex, and more sex are covered really well, painted in a positive light without any body or slut shaming, and people of colour in general, but nothing else - the potential for gay, bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, asexual, demisexual, transgender, and genderqueer was there, it really was, as was there a great plot background waiting to be told, but it just didn't come, and with each panel I felt the disappointment hit me that little bit more. I so wanted to love this, I do like it, but I can't love it, and as much as I read it with interest, I felt excluded from it, like it was another world of heterosexuals who, even when they were talking constantly about leaving the old ways behind, were merely carrying on the ways all the same. Ultimately, if it were an option, I would like to give this <b>2.5</b> stars, and as I did like the concept of this even if the execution was poor, I'll go up and not down, which gives it the full 3 stars. But I do this begrudgingly.

Survivors of an environmental disaster live aboard a space station named after California, which makes total sense to me, being a lifelong Angelino. Over the course of this graphic novel, a group of young people from the first generation born in space try to figure out how to live their lives, with the emotional part being a lot harder than the sexual.
There’s an awful lot of internal narration. Wish they could have found some other way to present all the info dumps. Not sure how I feel about a world that considers Hotel California to be a classic in the way Mozart and Beethoven are, but okay.
It wasn’t the threesome that told me it was a dream, it was the burger.
I do like people who can make jokes during sex, and after.
Had some trouble identifying which were the guys, as they’re drawn rather androgynous.
Except for some slang, I understood all the Spanish.
The artwork was the weakest part, but still pretty in a watercolor-y way.
All in all, I enjoyed it more than I thought I might from the description.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

What did one reviewer say about this book? Banging in space? There is a slight plot here, in that scientists have gone up to a space station to live for the rest of their lives, have children, and survive because <em>something</em> has happened on Earth. Something disastrous.

The children are all free-wheeling, making love all over the place with whomever they want, and don't have any idea why their parents are still only sleeping with each other, as per this discussion of the adult children below.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-490" src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Screen-Shot-2018-05-13-at-6.47.22-PM.png" alt="" />

But, beyond the story of the world below them having troubles, most of the book is of the 20-somethings having sex.

Below is the PG version of one of the men that  Rigo likes about to get dinner at the "y" in zero gravity.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-489" src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Screen-Shot-2018-05-13-at-6.41.07-PM.png" alt="" />

I presume the next volume will get more into the plot, with a little less boinking, not that there is anything wrong with zwaftig, latina women getting it on with all and sundry.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

The polygamous relationship is new subject. may appeal to young readers....................................................................................................................

So this is basically like someone just really wanted a story with poly-amorous folk (which is awesome, and why I downloaded it from netgalley), so they set it in space in the future, and just had them all bang. The plot was not fleshed out, at all. The characters were not fleshed out, at all. I would take a pass on this one, though i did like the art.

I already thought I'd love this based on the cover and the description, but it turned out to be even better.
I literally read the whole thing in less than an hour. It's really fast paced but there are so many details that make a simple story just wonderful.
Like the fact that Rigo and her family have such a Latin American soul even in space, with the colours, flowers, songs... And the Spanglish is awesome for readers like me who love both languages.

Also, if you're young and wondering how to love, how to have relationships, what kind of relationship is better, or what the "norm" is, this is for you. It shows that everyone can love in a different way. No matter sex, gender, identity, race, if you want to be polyamorous, monogamous...as long as you keep it honest and talk about it.

Such an important lesson in such a light and fun environment.

Loved everything about it. I wish it was a saga or a series.

Below is a miss mash of my thoughts on this one. I apologise in advance.

Gay rep, fat rep, latinx rep, polyamorous rep, black rep - I am here for all of this!

Ofc even in out of space, everyone is American...of course.

This ish is explicit!!! Whew! And so free. The 'open' in open earth is quite literally the best word to
describe this graphic novel.


I don't know what this story is but I kept on turning the pages, so the author got that right for sure.

Take away? Communication is key and open relationships are okay too, as long as everyone is clear
on boundaries

Beautiful and striking art style, body posi and sex posi message, generally a pleasant and quick read!

I'd love to see more in this setting, whether it follows the same characters or not, the style and diversity is amazing, and I would definitely pick up a sequel/companion/spin off.

Polyamory in space is my jam!

This book is about several friends exploring poly relationships with each other in space. The Earth has been destroyed by climate change and several spaceships full of rogue scientists have started to build a new life for themselves in space. It's written in a mix of English and Spanish; the scientists came from California which had seceded from the US and opened its borders to Mexico, and Spanglish became the new official language. I loved the setting and all the back story, but found the main storyline to be a bit underwhelming. I'd have much preferred to have read more about what was going on in the background instead! The dialogue was often a little clunky, and sometimes felt like it was just a filler for the sex scenes. I would have preferred to get to know the characters more and become invested in their lives and relationships rather than just watch them have sex. I would still be interested in reading any sequels though, especially if there's more exploration of the book's inventive back story.

A really interesting look at a future human society of a type that isn't often seen in sci fi. I found this very refreshing and thought-provoking, though I'm not entirely sure I agree with the points it raises.