Publisher: NBM
Release Date: October 27, 2020
Price: $24.99
Writer/Artist: Abraham Martinez
Format: 144 pgs., Limited-Color, 6.5" x 9", Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-6811-2268-7
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
Once you start reading this graphic novel, the cover image will become incredibly creepy. This book is social science fiction, in the same genre as something like Orwell’s 1984 was, when it came out. Taking place a bit over 30 years in the future, this book studies the effects of mergers leading to a single corporation so huge that it points out that it might as well run the world, as a unified government. Enough people buy into this idea that it becomes a legal reality, as opposed to just sort of happening.
A few years later, a former Company employee sets out to write a book about what has gone right and wrong with this concept, and seemingly oddly, the Company supports the idea wholeheartedly.
Twists and turns occur as the author explains what a plutocracy is and how it works, and the good and bad sides of the society that has come out of this takeover. For most people, they have given up freedoms in return for security of a sort, but is that so different from what we have now? On the other hand, if you have no money and no income, your life is totally ruined. One unified world government means no major wars, and the legalization of prostitution, gambling and drugs means less crime of that sort, but the logic of the other crimes vanishing doesn’t quite convince… crimes of passion our out of mental illness are glossed over in the story.
As he dives into the twists and turns of the story, the writer gets caught up in what may be plots, or may be odd coincidences. Once he’s finally shown a reason why the Company supports his book… he’s shown a different one, and which one is true?
The story is a dark one, and the art style may not appeal to some, but it matches the story’s tone.
This book is for adults who are willing to think about the story, which is potentially a horrific one… unless you’re very, very rich, in which case it’s a happy ending, isn’t it?
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.