Alex + Ada #3 – Review

By: Sarah Vaughn (story/script) and Jonathan Luna (story/art/letters)

The Story: Alex introduces Ada to his friends.

Review (with SPOILERS): A bit of a transitional issue, this one.  But, that is okay and doesn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the series.  Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna already established in the first two issues that they were interested in the sorts of deeper questions that I wanted to read about, so it’s okay for them to do a little of the necessary roadwork to get us from Point A to Point B.

This is the issue where Alex comes to grips with the fact that he owns an android (Ada).  She meets his friends and Alex starts to grapple with all the things that are normal when someone gets a new pet – because Ada is really just a pet at this point.  Much like a new dog owner needs to buy a few bowls and a leash, Alex needs to figure out what Ada will wear and how/when she needs to eat.  The question of whether she poops even came up.

But, the more interesting part is when Alex starts to wonder what to DO with Ada.  She’s remarkably compliant.  If he wants to dance, she’s happy to dance and she’ll happily watch whatever TV program he chooses.  But, by the end of the issue, we see that Alex is pretty disappointed because Ada doesn’t WANT anything on her own.  She’s just programmed to do whatever Alex wants.  In his frustration, he starts to explore getting her software upgraded to allow Ada to be more self-aware.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens next because Alex clearly wants Ada to be MORE.  However, it isn’t remotely clear what he wants Ada to do with self-awareness.  He doesn’t seem to be yearning for Ada to fall in love with him or even be his friend; this story doesn’t seem to be another version of Pygmalion.  Alex just thinks its kinda depressing that an entity as computationally advanced as Ada doesn’t have it’s own desires and wants.  It’s a pretty rich storyline because each reader can compare it to their own lives and find something worth examining.  There is certainly a lot to examine in our own past relationships where a partner or a friend didn’t exercise much freedom-of-expression.  For me personally, I’m comparing Ada’s situation to my three dogs where some are eager to please and some are more challenging.

Another thing I’m curious about is how this software upgrade works.  Is it something that removes a computational blockage in Ada’s brain?  So, Ada’s brain is capable of having wants/desires, but her software just overrides those wants/desires.  In that case, Ada’s current situation is that of “well behaved slave”.  OR….is this software upgrade adding an emotional functionality that Ada doesn’t currently possess?  Perhaps her current software doesn’t even allow her to have desires?  If this is the situation, the Ada’s current situation is more like that of a housecat that is being uplifted (or a child that grows up).  I’m pretty sure that Vaughn and Luna will explore this topic because it seems consistent with their thought process.

The only part of the story that isn’t clicking with me is that of the androids in the outside world.  We’ve heard about this massacre by self-aware androids and in this issue we learned about an android that was killed by an angry mob.  I’m not sure if there is a point to this beyond demonstrating to the reader that “android sentience” is a hot topic in the Alex + Ada world.

Artwise, everything still works.  There’s not a lot of pizzazz to the art, but it is very, very effective because it frames the character’s personalities.  It reminds me a little bit of the art in Morning Glories because everything is about the facial expressions and body language.  You can just tell that Ada is programmed to be nice and demure right now…..because of how she looks.  You can just tell that Alex is basically a nice guy…..because he looks like a nice guy.  And Alex’s d-bag friend isn’t just a d-bag because he keeps asking Alex if he’s going to have sex with Ada…..he LOOKS like a d-bag.  It’s really nice character work from Luna and kinda refreshing in an era where lots of comics are illustrated with an eye towards the original comic art market.

Conclusion: Not the most eventful issue, but still very strong.  If you’re interested in thought-provoking comics, this is one to keep at eye on because the creators are interested in the right sorts of questions.

Grade: B+

– Dean Stell