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25th April 2024

Science fiction

Joyride” #1 (of 4) (review)

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“Joyride” #1 (of 4) (review)
Boom! Studios, April 2016
Writer: Jackson Lanzig and Collin Kelly

On the face of it, this title is an adolescent science fiction story, a heist, a youthful expression of defiance. It is almost shallow. But there are some shadows amidst the stardust.

A young girl named Uma convinces a boy named Dewydd to get her past the fascist gatekeepers manning a weapon on the moon which is aimed at the world. All citizens of the planet are in an Orwellian yoke where happiness and calm are mandated. Uma has made contact with an alien who has agreed to collect her and her friend from the dark side of the moon. The alien turns out to be a slaver. But she has subverted the alien’s enforcer, a black shapeshifting robot called D.Bot. The evil alien is jettisoned into space, presumably to his death, and Uma is left with the universe to explore and the means to do it. The three are actually a foursome, for there is also a fascist soldier, named Catrin, who has inadvertently joined the crew and is in the early stages of Stockholm Syndrome as a consequence of exposure to free-thinking.

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Project Nemesis #1-6 (review)

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Project Nemesis #1-6 (review)
(American Gothic Press, October 2015 – June 2016)
Writer: Jeremy Robinson

American Gothic Press’ “Project Nemesis” is a comic book adaptation of the same-titled novel. “Project Nemesis” starts with two plot springboards:

a. the murder of a young Japanese girl named Maigo; and
b. the discovery of what seems like the fossilized remains of an ancient giant reptile (fans of the Japanese “kaiju” genre, discussed further below, will recognize the fossil as being similar to Hollywood’s first attempt to adapt the “Godzilla” franchise) by a character named General Lance Gordon and two accomplices, one of which is killed onsite in order to keep the whole thing under wraps.

The comic then segues to introducing the protagonist, Jon Hudson. Hudson is a lead investigator for the United States Department of Homeland Security’s “Fusion Center-P”. This unit is considered by other agents as a joke because it handles paranormal threats to national security (recalling shades of the television series “The X-Files”). The story finds Hudson and a sheriff named Collins reluctantly hunting down a sasquatch.

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Drones #1 (review)

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Drones #1 (review)
(IDW Publishing, April 2015)
Writer: Chris Lewis

War comics have a long pedigree. American publishers have been periodically obsessed with the US Civil War and its aftermath (Western-themed comic books), the best example of which perhaps is DC Comics’ title Jonah Hex (1977-1985, 2006-2011). From there, we have World War One and the unusual title, Enemy Ace (DC Comics, first appearance 1965) which was an homage to the famous German pilot known as the Red Baron. World War Two titles have been published in abundance, including DC Comics’ Sgt Rock (first appearance, 1959) and Marvel Comics’ Sgt Fury and the Howling Commandos (1963-1981). British war comic book title Commando has been published since 1961 by DC Thompson & Co, and is approaching its 5000th issue. The Vietnam War was the subject of a Marvel Comics’ publication called The ‘Nam (1986-1993). Missing from this list of recent-ish wars is the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War, the Spanish-American War and the Russo-Japanese War. each of which were extraordinarily significant but have escaped publishers’ memories.

This title is a war comic from this century, where war is waged at high altitude with high technology, destruction and fire delivered upon Arab insurgents upon remote and casual appraisal. The first to third and fifth pages of the issue capture this perfectly. It is a thoroughly contemporary war comic far removed from the grit of hand-to-hand or bayonet-led combat, or the noble air chivalry seen in Enemy Ace.

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The Revisionist #1 (review)

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The Revisionist #1 (review)
(Aftershock Comics, July 2016)
Writer: Frank Barbiere

Amongst the melange of themes, there is something quite 1980s about “The Revisionist”. The art is certainly very reminiscent of Walt Simonson or Trevor von Eeden when they were doing pencils for the major US publishers in the 1980s. But it is the plot and dialogue which evokes an urgent, unpolished, self-conscious eighties theme. A reader could be forgiven for thinking that the comic was set during the Reagan years and that the dialogue and art are a clever allusory mirror backdrop (a wonderful example of this was Warren Ellis and John Cassidy’s dunk into the varied period styles of Batman ranging from the 1930s to the 1990s in “Planetary/Batman. NIght on Earth”, (Wildstorm Comics, 2004)). But, disappointingly, the story is described as set in the “present day”, and the urgency and unpolished writing is happenstance.

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