Written by Tom Morello
Illustrated by Scott HepburnFrom the mind of musician Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, The Nightwatchman) with art by Scott Hepburn (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic), Orchid is the tale of a teenage prostitute who learns that she is more than the role society has imposed upon her.
When the seas rose, genetic codes were smashed. Human settlements are ringed by a dense wilderness from which ferocious new animal species prey on the helpless. The high ground belongs to the rich and powerful that overlook swampland shantytowns from their fortress-like cities. Iron-fisted rule ensures order and allows the wealthy to harvest the poor as slaves. Welcome to the world of Orchid.
After first listening to Rage Against the Machine over ten years ago, I finally and inexplicably get to read a comic by their most prolific and well versed member, Tom Morello.
If you’re wondering just how well this Harvard graduated political wordsmith has adapted his craft to the brand new medium of comics (as I was), then by all means clickeroo on down!
Admittedly, I was given pause when I received an email from EiC Matthew asking me if I wanted to review a comic by Tom Morello (one with a variant cover by Shepherd Fairy, no less!). While pretty much anything he’s been involved with musically since 1999 has left me cold, Rage Against the Machine are one of the bands I listened to when I was 14 that I will still actually ADMIT to listening to when I was 14 due to the impact they had on the formation of my political beliefs. However, unless your name is Gerard Way, a successful jump from music to comics is not a guaranteed success right off the bat, and more often than not the results are mediocre at best (The Amory Wars, Lobo: Highway to Hell) or absolutely putrid (Fall Out Toy Works). So it was with that mixed trepidation that I approached this issue.
One thing that I need to clarify first: whoever wrote the solicitation copy on this issue needs to be fired. Quickly. Because the story was nowhere near as hamfisted and stereotypically preachy as the solicit made it sound. In fact, the titular character doesn’t even appear for most of the issue, with the bulk of the story being given away to world building and establishing the future of our planet according to Tom Morello. It is a stunning bit of kismet that this book is going to be released just as the Occupy Wall Street movement is growing to critical mass, since the disastrous circumstances of the book’s dystopian situation is singularly the fault of a major corporation and specifically their abuse of nature and the environment turning its back on the human race. Once the major ecological meltdown occurred, the rich used their financial power to enslave the poor and BAM we are given a perfectly screwed future.
While the expository narration that establishes this new history of the world is heavy handed at times, the portrait is painted fairly thoroughly. The perils the world are so simply defined that once we DO meet Orchid and her supporting cast, we understand just how much of a broken human being she is and exactly why she got that way. Love it or leave it, at least it makes sense. On top of that, every bit of narration in the book reads a LOT like folk song lyrics, which makes perfect sense given Morello’s history.
The art works especially well given the outlandish nature of the script. It’s clear that Scott Hepburn’s time drawing adventures in a galaxy far, far away was a big influence on this book, both due to the way he approached the monstrous freaks of nature that threatened humanity and the way humanity chose to express themselves visually and physically following the collapse of humanity. He also spares no quarter in depicting the horrid remains of planet Earth, giving life and detail to each and every pile of rubble in the book.
Overall, while not perfect by any means, this book provided a thoroughly entertaining post-apocalyptic tale that succeeded far more than it faltered and touched more than a few chords in regard to the current sociopolitical climate in this country, and you can’t ask for much more than that.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy
