We got webcomic sign.
The last humans in the universe are traveling through space on a generation ship, after Earth was destroyed in a coronal mass ejection. They hope to reach the mysterious Tryptone System where they can settle, guided by an order of priestesses called the Bellerians.
There's just one problem — the ship is falling apart, life support is in danger of failing, and the ship's command is in denial about it and either squabbling for power or checked out completely.
It's also a Perspective Flip of Space Mutiny, complete with Mystery Science Theater 3000 Easter eggs. It can be read here.
Turn Back the Sun contains examples of:
- Anti-Mutiny: MacPhearson, the chief engineer, sends out a distress signal when he realizes the ship can no longer be maintained. Amazingly, he gets a response, even though all other humans supposedly died two hundred years ago..
- Always Night: Duh, they're in space. Kalgan dreams of seeing the sun rise on earth.
- Background Halo: The captain has one of Bellarians' glowing orbs behind his head in one scene. Tellingly, it's slipped to one side.
- Color Motif: Orange is associated with the mutineers (and dawn on earth).
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Two hundred years before.
- Fan of the Past: Kalgan, the head of security, who wants to live on earth. Turns out earth still exists, which makes him a fan of the present.
- Future Imperfect: Mac assumes that Marsh-Wiggles were a real ethnic group on earth.
- Gender Is No Object: Aside from the all-female Bellarians, jobs on the ship (and the Corvus ships) don’t seem to be restricted by sex, including security and command positions.
- Generation Ships: Subverted. It wasn't supposed to be a generation ship and its design isn't holding up.
- Handicapped Badass: Mac Phearson. Gym rat, chief engineer, anti-mutineer, willing to risk his life to save the Corvus crew, routinely spacewalks, able to think fast under serious pressure, severe knee injury that never healed right and prevents him from putting any weight on it.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: The captain's heir, Lea Jansen, is sharp, hardworking, politically savvy, not too overconfident, and way more of a potential danger to the mutineers than her zoned-out father.
- Meaningful Name: The spokeswoman from the Corvus ships is called Gabby.
- More than Mind Control: The Bellerians seem to be able to do some kind of mind influencing, and combined with deep denial that the ship is falling apart, any attempts to warn the captain and his loyalists are met with active hostility.
- Nervous Wreck: Mac Phearson is outwardly stoic and self-possessed, but he's very aware that the ship's systems might fail at any moment. He's lived with the knowledge for decades as he fights a losing battle with entropy with no support from the Captain, who'd rather indulge his own skewed priorities. By the time the story starts he's regularly having either panic attacks or some kind of stress-related heart problems (while doing a pretty good job of hiding it).
- Odd Couple: Kalgan and Mac Phearson. Kalgan is an eccentric extrovert who's fascinated by history and the humanities, while Mac Phearson is a steady engineer with no interest in humanity's vanished planet or past. The affection is obvious, though.
- Rage Breaking Point: When Kalgan finds out he’s been lied to and never needed to live his whole life on a rusting generation ship., he snaps
- Scenery Gorn: The ship backgrounds arebeautifully detailed and it has its own orange grove for food production aboard, but it's also a rustbucket and totally falling apart.
- Shipper on Deck: The Corvus spokeswoman who responds to Mac Phearson's distress call seems to be pretty into him when they meet. Kalgan approves.
- Sinister Geometry: Subverted by the Corvus ships. They're nearly featureless black spheres, but their crew are good guys.
- Technology Marches On: In universe. The Corvus ships are way faster than the generation ship.
- Telepathic Spacemen: The Bellarians, a mystic order who advise/brainwash the captain and crew.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Kalgan sticks to non-lethal force in the mutiny. Justified, since his job is law enforcement, not combat.
