Top Cow Productions/Image Comics 2018
Written by Bryan Hill
Illustrated by Jeff Spokes
Lettered by Troy Peteri
In the near future, Los Angeles is a city on the brink of evolution, struggling with a new wave of terror fueled by black-market technology. Enter Aphrodite V: a fugitive from her masters, seeking individuality and purpose. She is the bleeding edge of biomechanics, and L.A.’s best hope against a new enemy—one that seeks to become a god among machines. One machine wants to destroy the city. Another has come to save it. Only one will survive.
Okay so the whole Aphrodite timeline is up and open for business and I am beyond thrilled by this story right here. There is that inherent desire to see and know more about the program and why they ended up having to go through so many models. Obviously V isn’t currently operating within company standards and says so here and so why is that, what are they doing and or using in their program that so many Aphrodite’s do no work at the parameter’s they’ve set? Who knows but the fact that I am already wondering this shows me how much thought Bryan put into opening this story and how much I'm already invested. I talk about how when you take the story further than what is seen and this is a great example of that.
The opening here is so incredibly good and full of the unexpected. This man who is talking and narrating the opening as arrogant and annoying as he sounds is what the modern day is all about. There is a new breed out there and with their knowledge of computers and th3e access to anything at their fingertips they piggyback off each other to create what is new and next. This is the result of giving everyone participation trophies and not teaching them manners or able to punish them as we were there is an arrogance in them that they believe whatever they are doing is the only right thing. Can we label them as villains or are they just the result of their upbringing? Again the thought process here is so well utilised and how it comes across and how we as readers interpret that how we will and there will be a myriad of different responses.
I love the artwork here and Top Cow has managed to get some of the most talented folks to do their interiors and have a loyalty with them so they keep working there. Jeff is a great example of this as we see his attention to detail and this extraordinary use of linework to create the subtle moments to the bold strokes. The utilisation of page layouts is stellar and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off such a magnificent eye for storytelling. The way backgrounds are brought into this alongside the whole tone, mood and feel that the colours bring well this really is something special to see.
The storytelling here really is rather exquisite and the dialogue and interaction between Aphrodite and Martin, the gay, black billionaire described earlier, leads me to believe that a time loop has been set in motion or something equally as heinous. Martin is someone I do not trust from the moment he spoke to the last page this man is ambitious, without morales and way too self entitled from what I can gather. Aphrodite just feel out of the hands of her controllers and into the hands of one would also control her. Self-aware and sentient with a personality and consciences I look forward to upcoming trial of manipulation from Martin.
Top Cow has this amazingly stellar track record and with each story, each arc they show time and time again that quality trumps quantity. This is exceptionally well realised through it’s writing and illustrations so that we as a reader find ourselves engrossed in a world that actually could be.