Recently I started reading European comics, as I’ve been learning from my colleague David about the market over there. In brief, Euro comics are an untapped source of comics relative to manga and manhwa, and as I read them I’ll be reviewing the ones I consider to be worth checking out.
And since this is “Science and Fiction,” I figured the first Euro comic review should be sci-fi. And lately, I’ve been reading Androids Vol. 1: Resurrection . It has some nice art and a decent premise, so let’s jump in!
The story is set 500 years in the future, and during this time humanity has been taking a pill that enables those taking it to live forever. However, no children have been born since the introduction of “The Formula” until a woman named Anna conceives a child. Simultaneously, detective Liv Anderson investigates a murder mystery concerning three people who uncovered a startling truth about The Formula, after investigating a wrecked satelling containing ancient world records.
Since most S&F readers likely haven’t read the comic, I’m going to leave the big twist intact while reviewing.
Likes
A new take on the “blue pill” concept
Since Androids features a blue pill (called “The Formula”) and a “Ms. Anderson” as the protagonist, I had some concern this comic was going to borrow too heavily from The Matrix. Fortunately, while being inspired by that film, the comic takes the idea in a very different direction. The Formula provided by Microcorp which supposedly grants eternal health and youth to those taking it. And one question the story revolves around is, what if you stopped? Would you be willing to risk aging and death for an abstract freedom?
Is there a mind control agent that comes in the pill? How is it that no one has gotten pregnant for 500 years? I won’t give away too much of the big twist, but I will say I was surprised at what the The Formula actually was. It doesn’t do what Microcorp says it does, but instead acts as a cover to the real answers of how humanity reached its current state.
AI interactions
I enjoyed the banter back and forth between Liv and Job (the robot) through the story. They play off each other, the scenes are often funny, and given the big twist, the pairing of these two ends up far more significant than expected.
And while I’m looking at this set of panels, one thing to note is that the future is surprisingly static culturally. It comes up a few times, and in a sense, humanity reached a point and seemed to be put “on hold,” almost waiting for the moment that Anna conceives.
Critiques
Confusing religious symbolism
Religion is brought up a few times in the story, but I ended up confused about the symbolism and what they were trying to convey. Above, just before the climax, we see the ‘neo-theologians’ out running defense for The Formula. These people didn’t feature at the beginning, and seem to just appear for this moment. It came across as an unnecessary dig at “religion,” and I thought the scene in question would have proceeded much better if the authors had leaned into Microcorp. After all, Microcorp is making the pills, why aren’t their people out running defense?
Next, we look at Anna, the pregnant woman. She spends most of her time in a church, restoring old paintings, and also statys there for safety as the story proceeds. It creates a kind of clash with the futuristic priests above, so I’m not quite sure what the religious symbolism is supposed to mean. Perhaps we’ll find out in the next volume?
The face paint?
Each named character had a different color of face paint, and something never answered is what the paint is for or what the patterns mean. Does it carry any significance? Its never answered. I’m hoping this comes up in a future issue, otherwise I’m going to have to assume this is 25th century fashion. Not necessarily a bad thing if so, but I’d like an answer.
My big question for Vol. 2
What’s going on with Mars?
Meteors “from Mars” fall at the beginning and end of this story, and either moment signifies great changes in the world. I did like the ominous symbolism. And since these meteors are “Pieces of Mars,” I had to wonder what’s to come in that regard. Was Mars somehow destroyed? Did humanity discover something there they shouldn’t have?
I think a reveal is going to be coming about Mars, and how it brought about the world of Androids in the near future. It might be a past mistake by humanity brought forward again to challenge the newborn child. If humanity did reach Mars many years ago, what if the “pieces of Mars” are remnants of a war, or part of one that is being reopened? I’m looking forward to it.
What are you reading this week?
Let me know in the comments if you’d like to check this book out, or if you’ve got some other comics you are reading this week. I’d love to know what you’re reading!