Rating: 4.5/5 – Great politically-themed story with compelling characters.
by ComicSpectrum EiC Bob Bretall.
I’ve seen many people read comics like this and declare them boring. To me this was a gripping political thriller, it’s not loaded with car chases, explosions and people punching each other, but that is not the only source of action in a well-crafted story. The action in this issue was in the story arcs of the characters where we’re seeing the set-up of a chain of events that will eventually lead to the “25 years from today” totalitarian state seen on the first three pages.
Max Bemis delivers some really sharp narrative captions and dialogue, which is important since it’s the characters that are providing the story momentum. Ransom Getty delivers some stunning art, his facial expressions and body language really gave me a sense of the characters, particularly the leads; singer Reese Greenwood and Presidential candidate Sam Duggins. Getty also wowed me with his page/panel layouts, breaking panel borders in places to emphasize people or gestures and using the gutters to the left and right of a key sequence to show reactions to the scene being played out down the center of the page.
Bemis set up the end game for this series right out of the gate, and to some extent in the title. We’re heading for an ‘Evil Empire’, a totalitarian regime, but it’s coming 25 years down the line. Instead of dropping us into this future, starting with a world very much like the one outside our window Bemis will be showing us the steps along the way that will lead us to that end result. Will you agree with every single parallel Bemis draws or conclusion he comes to along the way? Certainly not. But you don’t need to, it’s fictional after all, but I found the beginning of the path in this issue to be fascinating. I’ll be sticking around as Bemis & Getty expand the story and lead us down a path to a very grim possible future.
Reviewed by: Bob Bretall
(bob@comicspectrum.com)
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