Filed under: Comic Reviews, Image Comics | Tags: Brian Valeza, Buddy Bear, Glen Brunswick, NH's, Noah Dorsey, Non-Humans, Oliver Aimes, Whilce Portacio
‘Non-Humans’ sees a labour of love project become a reality for creators Glen Brunswick, Whilce Portacio & Noah Dorsey and knowing it’s a sci-fi themed tale had me hyped for yet ANOTHER of Image Comics releases.
Detective Oliver Aimes heads up our story as his introduction sets him out to be a world-weary, rule-breaker who’s somehow managed to keep himself on the force. He’s struggling to deal with the murder of his partner (victim #22) at the hands of a serial killer he’s now investigating, all while trying to get through another day. His strained relationship with his ex-wife, the care of his rebellious teenage son and his day on the force mark the key elements to this strong opening issue.
There’s a lot of background story here away from our central character as a futuristic world with humans and non-humans (NH’s) trying to co-exist – think Spielberg’s A.I. and you’ll have a good idea of the dysfunctional and dark world we’re reading about. Where the NH’s simply want to be recognized and given a fair chance at a life and the humans are split between acceptance and distrust. There’s also a back-story where Aimes’ 14 year-old son, Todd has sparked up a relationship with an NH ex-mannequinn – leading to a whole cross-culture aspect to the story.
Common ideas that we may have seen before but there’s much more depth in this title than you might have expected at first glance and there’s a foreword from Brunswick that lets us know that the concept was worked on by the group for about a year before a single drawing was made – a perfect indication of the passion that’s been poured onto the pages. Backed up with some great artwork that’s captured the same level of depth – a highly detailed world drawn by Portacio and expertly coloured by Brian Valeza.
This all mingles to give a typically multi-layered and realistic life, where a series of characters from robots, humans and more interact – my favourite being Buddy Bear, a drug-dealing teddy bear that’s got links to the seedier parts of the city and a key part of the investigations. This all builds to climactic ending where an assassination take place of a key speaker at an NH rally and the chase reveals some serious details on the agenda of the assassin …..MIND BLOWN!
Having added this to my pull-list last minute…..I lucked out and have a new permanent title to look forward too. Try this title if you can, it’s smart with real depth and there’s a whole life behind each character that I’m sure will be expanded on as the title continues.
8/10
G-Man
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