Image Comics 2018
Written by Christopher Sebela
Pencilled by Ro Stein
Inked by Ted Brandt
Coloured by Triona Farrell
Lettered by Cardinal Rae
Ten minutes in the future, the world runs on an economy of job shares and apps, including Reapr: a crowdfunding platform to fund assassinations. Charlie Ellison leads a quiet, normal life until she’s suddenly targeted by a million-dollar Reapr campaign. Hunted by all of Los Angeles, Charlie hires Vita, the lowest-rated bodyguard on the Dfend app. As the campaign picks up speed, they’ll have to figure out who wants Charlie dead before the campaign’s 30 days—or their lives—are over.
I will be honest I almost passed on this one. It is a good thing that I really like Christopher’s writing and stuck it out through the entire issue. I will say this I can certainly see why Charlie has been targeted as she’s really one of the most annoying people I have met in comics and that’s including Maxwell Lord. The opening here however does a great job in getting us interested in seeing what this is all about. Because at first glance it would seem that Charlie is an innocent victim and that Vita who is meeting her about being her bodyguard shows off the skills needed to be just that.
Well like Vita we want to know what’s going on and then Charlie spews out what her last two days have been like. Apparently she doesn’t know how to sit still and has an app for everything, she like to hustle and if you pay attention to you realise that half this doesn’t really add up. I mean how can you do all this in one day and from the looks of it she’s not that nice a person while doing it. So if there is one thing I can guarantee you it’s that Christopher’s characterisation here is incredibly on point. I mean I like Vita and she’s a hardass and doesn’t care if you think so or not. Charlie on the other hand plays at being the victim and hasn’t a single clue as to why people are after her. I said plays at because I don’t believe a word that comes out her mouth.
I like the way this book is structured. That we basically are in this at the same point as Vita and we’re just as much learning about everything as she is well it’s well done. We have no idea what this world is like, how there’s an app for that and well it’s a brand new day. I mean there’s crowdfunding campaign for Charlie’s death and it’s extremely high in price and in the amount of backers. There are a number of things I don’t get but mainly I don’t understand how someone like Charlie who uses her phone and all those apps doesn’t quite get it when told that her gives away her position. First things first anything electronic would out the window if people were tracking me.
I like the interior artwork here and how we see the attention to detail. The linework is really rather nice and it’s crisp and clean and there is some nice use of varying weights to create bold and subtle uses. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a very solid eye for storytelling. That backgrounds are utilised as much as they are bring me a lot joy and happiness. There is some really nice innovation in what we see as well and that scene with the house and how we see the inside well that’s just all kinds of awesome.
There really is some very interesting things happening within these pages. From the characterisation to the plot/story development Christopher and company have actually created something incredibly modern and very disturbing. I think this is a surprise gem amidst all the normal fare and it’s something you should be checking out you’ll thank me for it.