The Surrogates

The Surrogates Volume 1 (Surrogates (Graphic Novels))

Robert Venditti

I went to Star Clipper on Friday and picked up The Surrogates by Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele.  I took time over the weekend to completely devour it, and I already want to read it again.  It's an unbelievable story, one I think would resonate with most of the WE-folk.

It's so much more than just a good sci-fi cop story.  Sure, it's set in central Georgia in 2054, it has mind controlled androids (the surrogates), techno terrorism, corporate espionage, action, and intrigue.  It has a veteran cop up against his toughest case, made tougher (or perhaps not?) by the moral questioning the case raises within him.  It has the vane but compitent partner who can't quite grasp the inner turmoil his buddy is going through.  There's the obvious foil set to play out his destiny, and the real foil that becomes aparent to the sharp-eyed among us about mid way through the book.  All of the pieces are there for a fun, sci-fi mystery.

Venditti, however, takes the story beyond being a simple 'cop story'.  The Surrogates has a depth and a richness that is conveyed through the intricate layering of story lines and features that put you right in the year 2054.  Through transcripts of tv news story archives, current online news articles and advertisements, we're allowed to expreience the events as they happen (or as one might do a bit of online research as current events unfold).  We're there, part of the world, a world where surrogates live our lives for us and we don't think twice about it.  

Yet we do think twice.  We begin to realize what it means for our lives to be lived through surrogates.  What it means on a societal level, to have machines and not people running so much of our daily lives.  What it means to our relationships, as we relate to one another only through our surrogates.  What it means on a personal level, as we begin to question what role the surrogates play in our quality of life, and what quality really means. 

I'm not an artist or an art critic, but I do know what I like, and Weldele's art definitely works for the book.  He uses heavy ink lines and a wash of colors that blend to create a real cenematic feel.  It's not photo real by any means, but very evocative, lending to an edgy feel that is simultaneously futuristic and raw. It works well with the story, helping to create and build on thoughts and emotions that spring from the words.  Just as the words do, the pictures give just enough detail to get you thinking, then let your brain do the rest. 

The Surrogates is an engaging and thought provoking story, that on the one hand delivers well-paced action with believable science that is integral to the fiction; and on the other a layering of perspectives, keen dialog, and rich detail.  You can't read it without taking a moment to consider the deeper questions Venditti raises, and once you do, you'll realize we don't have to wait until 2054 to face similar issues.  You'll realize that we have surrogates here and now, and you'll begin to question what they're really worth to you.