By: Nick Spencer (script/story), Christian Ward (art/story), Kendall Bruns (photography), Jeff Powell (letters), Tim Daniel (design) & Jade Dodge (edits)
The Story: What if you could always buy your way out of your current reality by swapping with another you from an alternate universe?
What’s Good: What a cool concept! From the solicits for this issue, I had in my mind some kind of Total Recall story where you could have your memories imprinted with any sort of artificial experience and it would feel as if you actually had done/accomplished the event. I should have known that Nick Spencer was a little too imaginative and hip to just retread an old Governator movie. I don’t think it’s too big of a spoiler to reveal the central theme for you here because it’s kinda central to the whole story.
If you’re at all familiar with the concept of parallel or alternate universes, one of the theories is that everything that can happen, has happened. There is an alternate universe where you are the President of the USA, where you hooked up with Ms. Universe or where you have Russian oil baron wealth. Of course, there is also a reality where you are raped in prison, homeless or dead (many realities where you are dead, actually). Spencer and Ward’s concept is: what if you had an iPhone app that communicated with these other yous and allowed you to swap realities for a fee? It is kind of a hybrid between eBay and the old types of commodity trading that Enron used to do. Did you forget your wife’s birthday? For $5000 you can swap realities with another you where you didn’t forget. That kinda thing…
This tosses out all sorts of really cool possibilities. Such as how does one feel self-esteem when a better life is merely a question of money? When do you have “enough” happiness and stop trying to trade up? What is the price tag on your own happiness? Would you sell it to another you? What are you willing to do to avoid death? How can the other “yous” be you if they’re wiling to sell some happiness to you for a fee? Shouldn’t they want to keep it if they’re really “you”? This series promises to explore those types of questions, especially when our protagonist, Mark, meets someone who isn’t fully down with reality swapping. If you’re into high-concept sci-fi this is a must read.
Artistically, this is a very unique title. It starts right off the bat in the credits where the credits look like they’re being displayed on a iPad. The art itself is fine, but what sets this book apart is its sense of design. There are a few really trippy, psychedelic pages with very imaginative layouts. Also, there are photographs in this comic book in an interlude that allows a salesman to tell us about the technology. I hope that doesn’t start a trend of photos in comics, but the last time I saw photographs in a comic was in Promethea (another reality bending story) and I quite liked the effect there too.
What’s Not So Good: No complaints about the story whatsoever. My only caveat is that some people who are into traditional comic linework might not dig on the art. The actual sequential art kinda takes a back-seat to the cool design aspects of the overall presentation. Mind you, that’s fine with me because this is very interesting and experimental stuff, but you’re not going to find things like cross hatching or marvel at the inking in this issue.
Conclusion: Wow! What a great first issue! Spencer & Ward have come up with a very original title and I can’t wait to see where it ends up.
Grade: A
– Dean Stell
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