A room full of copy machines. In an issue that includes multiples tussles and a gunfight, it’s a room full of copy machines that really fascinates. That’s because “Analog” is the good kind of sci-fi: it tweaks something small in our world and lets the situation run wild. That’s when the book is at its best. Its the more conventional moments I could use less of.
Cover by Jordie BellarieWritten by Gerry Duggan
Illustrated by David O’Sullivan
Colored by Mike SpicerCHAPTER TWO It’s 2024, and we still don’t have flying cars, but good news: we’re introducing Jack’s sniper-toting, fascist-punching girlfriend, and a mysterious new nemesis from the NSA wants to hack back into the world’s secrets by leaning hard on human punching-bag Jack McGinnis and his fellow paper jockeys. Order heavy on Image’s new hit series if you like fun comics with shootouts, intrigue, a few jokes, and a nice, old-timey cliffhanger.
We start where we left off last issue, Jack is in the kitchen with his dad, about to be attacked by a death squad of G-Men. The resulting fight is pretty good! The father/son duo smash goons into table, stab knives through hands, shoot bullets into heads, all the good carnage you’d hope from a PG-13 spy flick. David O’Sullivan has done his homework and you can see influences both old and new. The soft painterly style evokes Phil Noto or even some work by J.H. Williams III. The square-jawed muscle men are right out of Jack Kirby. Pow. Right in the kisser.
The banter is something of a delight too. Jack’s dad begs him not to shoot. Why? The baddie is standing too close to the stove, and he doesn’t want to get human brains in the meatballs. The whole fight has a real 1980s feel to it, like it was taken from a smaller action movie, before every movie was about the fate of the world. It’s got the same sort of influences as John Wick.
That’s actually a perfect comparison. The Keanu Reeves stunt spectacular focused in on one man killing his way through a very intriguing world. Similarly, “Analog” has a setting begging to be explored, but it doesn’t seem to be in any rush to explain itself. The fight scene is cool, but you could get it from a dozen other Image books, not to mention all of the spy thrillers the big two churn out. Is it well done? Definitely. But I want to get to the main course!
That’s when we meet the figure behind this donnybrook, a diminutive Hillary Clinton lookalike who introduces herself as Aunt Sam. Great name! She’s here to play the role of the sinister role of the uncaring government agent. Much like the fight scene, it’s very competently done. Also like the fight scene, she’s a very conventional character, albeit one with a specific look and a great name.
It’s halfway through the issue that “Analog” reminds us of what its capable of. Aunt Sam shows Jack a chilling sight, a room filled with countless copy machines. Old school copy machines, like the one they destroy in Office Space. How do you spy on a world without digital information? You intercept everything and make manual copies.
This is it, the moment the whole series clicks. Will Jack betray his professional code and let himself be manipulated by the government? If he doesn’t what will happen? How many of his friends and colleagues have been compromised? Is there any getting out of this situation? Like the best sort of sci-fi once it gets going, “Analog” sort of writes itself. That’s how you know there’s a truly good idea at the core.
But then, the rest of the issue goes back to convention, this time in the name of window dressing. Jack gets roughed up in an elevator a la Winter Soldier, and is left bruised and bleeding in the rain. Classic film noir. He cathartically clocks a Nazi, an internet culture staple. We actually meet his partner/girlfriend Oona, Jack starts slamming alcohol, Oona is about to go start a job of her own and . . . to be continued.
I had to check to see if I was missing pages. Just like that? But we’re right in the middle of things! And that’s what infuriated me about this issue. I can feel how much I love “Analog,” but it’s despite all the time we’re spending meandering around. There’s a great comic in here, a great story. I just want to get to it.
I thoroughly recommend this series. It does film noir well, and science fiction great. We’re two issues in, and maybe things will pick up, or maybe they’ll keep on chugging on at this slow pace. “Analog” #2 doesn’t hit with the same weight of the first issue, but it’s obvious that this is a series that will kill it in a trade collection.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – Beneath all the noir cliches and hard drinking heroes lies a genius science fiction story.
