“Origins” #2

As David decides to learn more about his past, things change drastically for him and those closest to him. Mild Spoilers Ahead.

Cover by Jakub Rebelka

Written by Clay McLeod Chapman
Illustrated by Jakub Rebelka
Colored by Patricio Delpeche
Lettered by Jim Campbell
Created by Arash Amel, Lee Krieger, and Joseph Oxford

If issue one was our vague entry point to this post-apocalyptic mystery, issue 2 is our info dump. David is determined to understand his past, where he comes from, and why the world is the way it is. Now understanding that he is a cyborg duplicate of his human self, he is now even more concerned about his fate, and the fate of the planet. Planning to do an upload into his brain, David hopes to understand himself better, but he does not fully grasp the magnitude of information and memories he is about to take in. Even with brief and limited support from Chloe he is not prepared for he is about to see.

The first half of issue 2 is heavy on exposition. There is a lot of plot thrown at us that immediately answers some huge questions, while opening up a few more. Most of what is revealed would have shown much later in a long form series, but at six issue run, we have a lot of ground to cover, and so does David. As David learns about his past, we are also flooded with information. The upload seems to be painful in many ways, not just physically, but forcing David to relive a lifetime that he has forgotten that he must now have coinciding with his current life rips opens fresh wounds in his mind and soul.

The biggest, and most shocking reveal is that not only did David originally die shortly into the last days of the human race, he caused it. The A.I. prototype he created took root as the heart of the weapons system known as The Network. The Network branched off into hundreds of millions of sentient nanobots. These nanobots, which had a bio-organic element to them spread across the planet in just a few weeks. Destroying all naturally occurring life on the Earth, they began to transform and re-write all flora. Thus becoming a bio-robotic ecosystem that eventually took over everything. Now, nearly 1000 years later, the resurrected David has a new purpose in life; a new goal to aim his incredible intelligence at.

Overwhelmed with what he now knows, David takes time away from Chloe and Clif. The only two beings close to him, and the only two who care for him, even if they are just cyborgs themselves. Believing he knows how to begin to make things right, David is about to set out on this new journey just as their home is attacked by warrior drones. This is where the issue turns from plot heavy to throw some action and peril into the mix. As the issue progresses we get a few more beats of David’s second childhood with Chloe as caregiver. A few scenes are repeated from issue 1, but it’s a nice mirror that is held up to the current situation the characters are going through by the end of this chapter.

Chapman does a good job with the script throughout. Some of the early dialogue comes across as fairly typical for the situation David and Chloe are in. Their relationship is put to the test, should David actually go through with the upload, does he have a right to be angry with her for resurrecting him? It’s a hodge podge of stereotypical genre drama, but it mostly works, overcoming a dry snag or two. Overall the writing really drives home the emotions and weight of the story at hand. Even within this crazy future, there is plenty for us to latch on to. We can easily sympathize with Chloe and empathize with David.

The dual story lines running through this series are executed perfectly. Having the reader feel the emotional tug-of-war as the narrative leaps through time is an ingenious move and its placement within this issue works incredibly well.

The art by Jakub Rebelka is shaky, but full of purpose; like David himself. Rebelka’s lines give us just enough information and definition so we understand who or what we are looking at. At first glance it comes off as a bit simple. Another artist working in abstracts, possibly trying to just meet a deadline, or have their work be loose and mildly incoherent just to change things up. The more I dive into the world of “Origins” the more I feel like I am understanding Rebelka’s style. This is an Earth that no one alive today would ever see. At the surface it looks like any other over-grown cityscape left to thrive without humanity. Now knowing that everything has been taken over by synthetic creatures, it makes far more sense for this world to look a little off center. Add to the fact that everything is a robotic facsimile of what was here before, we are seeing this world through three synthetic people. One of which, who used to be human, and is now living this new life in a haze of partial memories and fake truths. The fuzzy, through a mirror darkly take to everything is exactly the style this series needs and Rebelka nails it.

The same can easily be said for Patricio Delpeche’s color work. His use of changing palettes is really fantastic. Not only does his work match Rebelka’s loose vibe, by allowing colors to come in and out of shadows, pour into one another, and fade out at his whim, he changes up color schemes at the turn of every page! Some of this is due to setting change. Moving from one environment or time period will do that and it’s a necessary change to tell a clear story, but other times, he’s changing things based on mood or conversation. It’s all gorgeous. This art team was paired together for a purpose and they killed it. The level of complexity in the work speaks for itself. And having a pro like Jim Campbell letter this book can’t go unnoticed. This text for the usual dialogue blends right in and flows wonderfully. The text and speech bubbles fit right into the story and or inoffensive on all accounts, as any good lettering should be. He also does an awesome job integrating the sound effect lettering moments and making them fit right into the illustrations.

The story moves at a steady pace. Not quite too slow for its own good, but it could get through a few beats a tad faster. With the amount of post-apocalyptic books on shelves nowadays, “Origins” fits right at home with many of them. It is trying its damnedest to carve out its own path, and while a good amount of its efforts are paying off, it needs a little more oomph to get its head above the ever expanding sea it finds itself in. One of the best decisions these creators made was to make this a six issue mini-series. Many readers will be more likely to snatch up these issues as they release than they are to want to start collecting another on-going series that could run 30 or 300 issues.

Final Verdict: 7.5, An intriguing and original story clawing its way out of the usual ‘humanity has ended and the world is run by a limitless A.I.’ setting.