2 posts tagged “graphic novels”

The Complete Zombies Vs. Robots by Chris Ryall

 

My review

  rating: 5 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this collection.  It's not Sandman in terms of story telling - there aren't many layers of subtext or interweaving plot lines.  What we get is pulp action at its finest.  Humans are cleverly used to set the stage and help get the story moving, but once it does there's no mistaking they play second (or even third) string in this cast.  The robots (well, one main robot) effectively carry the story, and we get a lot of fun robot v. zombie carnage that actually makes sense and is fun to see. 

And do we see it!  The art grabbed me immediately (I'd never heard of the book before, so it was the first impression of the art that caused me to pick it up).  It's unpolished, kinetic, and integral to the post-apocalyptic tone of the story.  As you might guess in a story with a robot protagonist and a cast full of zombies, the story hinges less on dialog and more on action.  What the illustrations lack in intricate detail they more than make up for in camera angles and fine use of sequential panels to render the action from a variety of perspectives.  The art also helps establish the character of the non-humans and gives them depth and personality.  The zombies reminded me a lot of those in Thirty Days of Night - incomplete, decaying, terrifying, something less than human.  It's all about brains, and they rip and shred the page trying to get them.  The robots are unique, solid but not indestructible, and when their parts fly, they fly.

Ryall's Warbot carries the story as any pulp hero would, and the limited use of humans* reinforces that this is a robot and zombie world and humans are merely trying to survive.  Wood's art reinforces that notion, and brings the battle between the zombies and the robots alive.  I've heard people complain that Aliens vs. Predator didn't need humans in it to be the sort of story fans want to see, and I think Ryall and Wood have created exactly the sort of story that zombie fans and robot fans will really enjoy.

*Yeah, I know there are Amazons in it, but that's all I'm going to say about them.  Go read the book and find out about them yourself!
 

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.