A few weekends ago at New York Comic Con, Greg Pak hosted a panel entitled Vision Machine about a new creator owned comic he would be writing and releasing with RB Silva on art. Anyone who attended that particular panel would get a USB floppy drive which had a free comic on it, which in turn gave itself to a brand new and quite legitimate debate about creators and the distribution of their work in a free arena.
Of course, not everyone was able to get a flash drive – such as yours truly. I suppose it’s good then that Greg Pak and the good folks at Comixology have put the comic up for free, allowing anyone with an iPhone or an iPad to get their own 100% legitimate free copy with no illegal filesharing required!
So with that in mind, allow me a minute of your time to share my thoughts on Greg Pak’s Vision Machine.
In a nut shell, Vision Machine is probably one of the most oddly self aware comics I’ve ever read. Initially going in, I was rather unsure as to what it was supposed to be about, but as soon as the story got going and I found myself sitting and reading it specifically on an iPad, I got to watch as Vision Machine turned from simply “a new comic” to a comic book that was looking back at me, pointing, and laughing a bit.
In the Vision Machine, a brand new device is introduced to a market called the iEye, which looks like a set of glasses and allows users to interact with reality on a brand new level. Of course, the iEye is one of those devices that is mocked a bit at first before it is even announced, but as soon as it becomes available, people are lining up and down the streets to be the first to own one – and soon enough everyone does. Vision Machine then begins to focus on three main protagonists and two “antagonists” as the book begins to mirror everything around us.
I would hope that this all sounds familiar, because it should. Pak is rather blunt in the parallels between the book and the world, including the detachment that this device creates between people and how they interact with one another. Through the three protagonists, we begin to see specific commentary based around events that will always seem vaguely aware to any reader who has been even remotely technologically aware. We have a creator who is literally able to bring her dreams to life, another who attempts to create a reality show, and a third who uses his iEye to mock and humiliate others to a rather large effect. Meanwhile, we see both the government and the corporation’s side to the story, as one manipulates the market for professional gain in a clever way and the other begins to slowly abuse the device in a way that doesn’t just border on privacy invasion – it shatters the line and acquires both sides.
If I didn’t know better, I would assume Greg Pak is perhaps one of the most technologically paranoid people on the planet. However, above the surface read of the story (which, in itself, is a level below what normally counts for a surface read) is a rather interesting set of commentary on the world we live in. The most overt theme of Vision Machine is how technology is slowly replacing the needs for actual human interaction due to the ability to chat and see people without even being in the same room. As this becomes the norm, our society and set of rules, ethics, morality, etc. become warped in a way that while any device that is universally accessible might allow everyone to feel connected and helpful (such as a scene in which the iEye is used to find a lost little girl, which then elaborates on it’s commentary further as people begin to see themselves as superheroes) and also a sinister tool that very much invades our privacy (when the true goal of this operation is revealed). The ability to compare and contrast this to the real world is both humorous and thoughtful, and the fact that this comic was released exclusively digital via USBs and apps allows Pak a whole new angle of meta commentary to be make.
Continued belowAside from the ways the comic allows you to think, however, it is most certainly a great comic. Pak is absolutely on fire here, with a sleek sense of writing that pushes the story deftly forward at a quickened pace, allowing quite a bit of plot development to happen in just the first issue alone. We go from 0 to 88 mph within the span of a few pages, and the story races forward beyond that in a way that could certainly leave you behind. I’ll admit that there were a few pages that I went back and re-read just to double check that I’d gotten all the appropriate plot points out of it. And – on an additional side note – you just have to love that Greg Pak managed to sneak Amadeus Cho into the comic.
Meanwhile, RB Silva is creating some of the most intricate and well rounded art of his career. Some of you might know him quite well now due to the phenomenal first part of the Action Comics back-up feature (written by Nick Spencer), but this issue takes his stylish characters and provides to it a much more intense landscape of design to operate within. Silva is charged with the difficult task of bringing Pak’s vision (machine) to life, which in turn means finding interesting ways to show us how people both see through the iEye as well as use it to create and manipulate. There are several sequences which are in turn created by the use of lots of smaller panels in order to elaborate on the interconnectivity of the iEye and show just how disturbed the world becomes when we disassociate ourselves from prime social interactions and become walking devices ourselves. To put it quite simply – RB Silva brings this comic to life (which then allows it to stare back at me, as mentioned in the beginning of this review).
In summation, if you’ve read this far into the review then I assume you can understand my opinion on the book – it’s utterly fantastic. I only read this comic this morning, but if given the opportunity I would most definitely pay for this comic. While I’m unsure of Pak’s release plan for the series, this is a comic book that belongs in your digital collection, and it’s free. In fact, there is no reason not to get this comic and become part of the story now. Trust me – reading the comic alone will speak loads and volumes more than I ever could in what is perhaps one of my wordiest reviews ever. So do yourself a favor, find yourself a way to get connected with Comixology, and get yourself a copy Vision Machine.
Or just click here. There you go – now you have no excuse.
Final Verdict: 9.4 – Buy Download
