Comic Box: Futurist tale from Ales Kot brimming with scientific jargon

Prolific comic book author and futurist Warren Ellis has had some choice words for those people who ask questions like, "where's my jetpack?" as they decry the lack of the tomorrow land they were promised. The future shown to us by the science fiction of my childhood and many others is one which we have made obsolete, or leapfrogged past or abandoned entirely.

The future is here and it is weird and the new futures dreamed up by science fiction prophets are in many ways even stranger than anything we ever imagined being. For me this is best embodied by the predicted technological singularity, the point at which technology will move beyond human control and fundamentally alter our world or the universe at large. Alongside this is the proliferation of theories abounding in the realm of physics known as string theory, the most interesting to my mind being the holographic principle. At its simplest interpretation, this hypothesis postulates that the universe is a holograph, bringing into question the very nature of our reality.

Taking the world we live in, pushing it very close to the edge of something that sounds like a small step from a kind of singularity and the holographic principle, we have Ales Kot's new book "The Surface." Starting in Tanzania we are introduced to a polyamorous relationship composed of a threesome of hackers and rebels looking for the pan time and space realm referred to in urban legend as the Surface, where the universal holograph is accessible and your thoughts directly and immediately effect the reality around you.

The first issue also throws around quite a lot of dialogue regarding the free flow of information, hacking, government overreach, privacy rights and the abandonment of personal privacy, and a great many other issues pressing in current events and breathing down the neck of our future.

The first issue of "The Surface" closes with our adventurous threesome reaching their goal and the world getting even weirder. The bulk of the issue is composed of information and stage dressing though, not all of it terribly gripping. A great deal of scientific jargon is dropped and quasi philosophical bon mots litter the overstuffed panels.

Despite this Kot manages to put together an issue that is frequently sharp, and doesn't hesitate to make sharp comments about art, artists, and the culture of creativity. In many ways the first issue of "The Surface" suffers from "first issue syndrome" in that it does a whole lot of set up but doesn't give us a lot to become emotionally invested in. That said, it gives us a great deal that is thought provoking and worth reading more about in the hopes that both parts of the equation can meet.

In many ways "The Surface" brings to mind Warren Ellis's seminal work "Transmetropolitan." I would go so far as to say that the first issue compresses a great many of the most salient points of the series into super concentrated tidbits and I would be shocked if the series did not go on to further draw on the spirit of that series. For those who have followed Ellis and his futurist writings "The Surface" will hit some of the same sweet spots that his work does.

The ideas presented so far are big and worthy of exploration, but whether Kot's book grows into the gleams of potential evident in the first issue and the ability to thoroughly explore them remains to be seen. That said the potential is there, and with the creativity shown so far it would be a shame to not give it at least the chance to impress us.

WILLIAM KULESA can be reached at jjournalcomicbox@gmail.com

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Comic Box: Futurist tale from Ales Kot brimming with scientific jargon