“Out of Sync”
Written By: Zoe Quinn
Drawn By: Robbi Rodriguez
Colors By: Rico Renzi
Letters By: Simon Bowland
Cover Price $3.99
Release Date: December 12, 2018
Review by: Mike Knox
An ambitious first issue by Zoe Quinn that misses more than hits. Great art by Robbi Rodriguez isn’t enough to save this book, as it ends up falling flat due to weird pacing and structure issues. The title of this issue perfect sums up the way this issue felt to me.
We open with an epic anime inspired fight, with cyber witch vs star faced kaiju. During the fight, someone else narrates in the background about how they feel weak and they wish they could be as bad-ass as the action heroes, in stories. This ends up being our protagonist, Cassandra Price. I did like this bit of contrast between the two women we are first introduced here. The problem is we never really learn the cyber witch’s name or enough about her to further make the comparison.
Cassandra is a Junior Artificial Intelligence Support Assistant for Hermeticorp. She feels powerless in this world. Her father is afflicted with the disease and even with a position at Hermeticorp, she can only afford a meager life for herself and basic care for her father, who is in a vegetative state due to an incurable illness that’s mentioned below.
Through the narration, we learn of a guy by the name of Tucker Brady who founded a company called Hermeticorp. While at Hermeticorp, Brady developed Azoth, which I think is the means to augment the way you interact the world around you, through nanotech implants. Sometime after developing this tech, an ailment that’s only referred to as, “The Disease” began to put people in the vegetative comatose states. Before succumbing to the disease, Brady tried to use Azoth to link the world's networks and develop A.I. to find answers. Unfortunately, no cure was found.
After we get this compressed info-dump in the first few pages, not much really happens until the final pages of the issue. Where the first few pages felt super compressed and tried to deliver an ambitious amount of world-building, the rest of the book seemed overly decompressed. Ancillary characters introductions are glossed over, and I never know why I should care about anyone else in this book. The only people I care about coming away from issue #1 is Cassandra and Papa Price.
The art in this book was simply great. The cyber world scenes borrow stylistically from manga and anime, like what we see in modern interpretations of DC characters in animated movies and television shows, but with more blurring during the weapon attacks a la Bleach. The mute, dull tones and technique used in the real world provide a perfect contrast between the digital and reality.
Bits and Pieces:
Zoe Quinn’s, “Goddess Mode”, shows some promise, but only had a so-so first outing. Not all is lost here, as the art and most of the dialogue feels good. Hopefully, the story structure will tighten up moving forward.
5.5/10
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