Letter 44

Charles Soule's Letter 44 is a sprawling, 36-issue science fiction saga from Oni Press that ran from 2013 to 2017, blending political thriller with alien-contact drama. The premise hinges on a newly inaugurated U.S. president who discovers a secret letter from his predecessor, revealing that a mysterious alien construction is underway in the asteroid belt—and that a crew of astronauts has been sent to investigate, their mission hidden from the public. With artists like Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque and Drew Moss bringing both the White House's tense corridors and the vast, lonely reaches of space to life, the series stands as a thoughtful, character-driven take on how humanity might react to the ultimate unknown. It matters for its ambitious, grounded approach to first contact, treating the political and personal fallout with as much weight as the cosmic mystery.