Online Comic Review: Manmachine

Manmachine Book One: Praepositio

Creative Team:

Written and Drawn by Martin Hekker
Programmed by Mike Angstadt

Publisher: Epic Dawn Comics
Link: http://fightevilwithevil.com/

Ok, confession time...I'm not a fan of reading material online. I'm old school like that. I like books and comics in my hand, the pages between my fingers. So I don't go looking for online comics. But every so often something flies into my radar and I'm always willing to give something new a chance. So I checked out Manmachine, a serial, online science fiction epic, concerning a future earth run by megacorporations. Artificial intelligence serves industry, but longs for spirituality and seeks God. In the mix, an odd hero emerges: Manmachine, assassin, robot, addicted to cigarettes and prone to falling in love. More human than human.

Characters

Manmachine
Echo

This story focuses on the reunion of Manmachine and Echo. It's been ten years since the two saw each other. It's clear that they had an affectionate relationship, but to what extent is not revealed. Their awkward reunion makes both of the characters appealing. Manmachine is clearly a likeable character and Echo...has potential.

Character Rating: 1 Worm

Plot

America is pretty much a wasteland since the Corporate Wars. Manmachine returns and picks up Echo on his radar. They reunite. they look over a comic which reads the readers mind and alters the images. I think the story is supposed to parallel Manmachine's and Echo's history, as well as a bit of the Corporate Wars.

Manmachine explains how he discovered the oldest intelligences in the universe, the Elders, spacefaring whales. Then missles are fired at them because someone is out to get Manmachine, but both Echo and Manmachine get to safety.

To be honest, I found a lot of it confusing. Little explanation is provided for either character or from where the missles came. It's something that happens sometimes with Science Fiction. Warren Ellis leaves me feeling that way often.

Plot Rating: 1 Worm...Loss of half a worm for confusion. Loss of half a worm for little action.

Art

Beautiful. The art is fantastic! That's all there really is to say. Plus very creative presentation. The pages are too big to fit my screen, so I had to keep scrolling up and down to make sure I was getting everything. Almost missed a caption for not pulling up far enough. But worth it...did I say the art was beautiful?

Art Rating: 2 Worms...No deduction.

Overall Rating: 4 Worms...recommended for sci-fi fans of postapocalyptic worlds.