Written by Tom Hardy,
Scott Snyder, Frank Tieri
Art by Ryan Smallman
Published by Dark Horse Comics
I remember when this was first announced that there was a lot of hype behind it. And it is certainly understandable.
Oscar nominated actor Tom Hardy was involved in the development and creation of this book. This has been a slow growing trend in comics as of late, where a Hollywood actor puts their name on a book, develops it a bit (possibly for an upcoming film) and the comics world take notice, at least for a time.
It happened with Oscar Isaac, Wesley Snipes, Patton Oswalt, and most famously with Keanu Reeves. This book was one that I remember a big splash then a lot of dead space as the wait between issues became larger and larger. I barely remembered what it was even about when I finally cracked it open.
But maybe I should have waited longer. It’s supposedly a twelve issue series but this is only the first half. Worse than that, there has been no word when the second half is coming. So who knows when I’ll be able to actually finish this story? And who knows if anyone will care when it completed? I am not sure that I will to be honest.
How is the book anyway?
Writers Scott Snyder and Frank Tieri really do have great instincts as comic book writers. Once you sprinkle in the madness of Tom Hardy and an interesting science fiction setting and you’ve got a really intriguing book to dig into. But all of this doesn’t get us past the part where the whole book feels generic. The concept of a little familiar to fans. It is the future. Earth has become a barren wasteland. Zynetic has harnessed the energy known as Kronium to make its presence known throughout the stars. That is where we find ourselves as the book starts. And that is the setting where we meet our intrepid main character, who is known as Kai.
Kai and his friend Xavier are part of this space army deal that harvests Kronium and turns the people who lose into slaves. They put into this device called the Arc and they have to be become miners with it. Kai and Xavier report to their high commander. We get to see Kai is married. But then Xavier betrays Kai. Kai then gets blown in two but is put into an Arc suit himself, showing how he gets a little bit of a comeuppance. From there, Kai must fight his way out and go up against his former masters to stop him.
There are a lot of moving parts from here. The beats of the story are pretty much dull and expected. Kai tries to fight to get his life back. We get to see a few instances where Kai and Xavier come up against each other. Kai’s wife gets involved. And then the whole book just ends on a rather uninspiring cliffhanger that you have no clue if it will ever get resolved.
The story, although sort of similar to many better science fiction efforts isn’t even the main problem here. It’s the artist Ryan Smallman has an art style that doesn’t really fit the proceedings. His art is rather cartoony and animated, which would work fine elsewhere but here it feels rather out of place. It is a bit strange that he was chosen to be the artist for this. The design work for this world is also severely lacking.
Not everything has to be on the scale of a Moebius or Geof Darrow but I wish there was something more than what we got. A little more would have gone a long way for me. Instead, it almost feels like it is a bit undercooked. And that is the worst feeling in the world.
For what it’s worth though, Kai is a pretty well developed character. But he is a character who is in search of a better story. A better story that doesn’t really come.
The writers at least have a good handle on Kai. Maybe when the book comes out again(who knows when that will be) we will get a deeper story for him. I do hope so. Overall, this whole thing felt pretty one note. And it wasn’t a really interesting note to begin with.
RATING: C+
