Reading Through Comics, Alphabetically: Descender by Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen

We’re up to the letter “D” in my quest to read through my entire comic inventory.  No surprise here, but the title I’ve picked comes from Image Comics: Descender by Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen.

A brief summary:

When nine moon-sized robots appear, each in the sky of one of the core planets of the United Galactic Council, destruction ensues. These robots, referred to as Harvesters, immediately disappear after the onslaught. Fearing further chaos, society opts to criminalize artificial intelligence, and millions of robots, once loved family members and companions, are hunted down and destroyed.

Ten years later, Tim-21, a companion robot, reawakens on an abandoned mine planet, destruction surrounding him. He’s soon reunited with his robot dog, Bandit. Together, the two are forced to embrace the chaos that took place around them. Once loved, now hunted by bounty hunters, Tim-21 and Bandit must struggle to stay alive.

As I began to write this post, I noticed that my favorite comic series definitely lean more toward science fiction than any other genre. This is curious, especially since I don’t generally read a lot of this genre in novel form.  All this said, the Descender series is one I quickly became enamored with.  A young boy (be it a boy of artificial intelligence) and his dog. How can you resist?

Though there may be those to say it’s impossible to connect with characters like this, Lemire (who I discovered after reading his Sweet Tooth series) manages to almost demand, force a connection with a naive young robot.  He’s vulnerable, his final memories are of the human family he’d grown a part of.

Though the human vs. robot storyline basis is not a new or unique one, what I’ve read in the first four issues of this series has me anticipating something tremendously unique and awe-inspiring.  I do have high-hopes for this series and I’m certain Lemire will exceed them.

The beautiful art, done in unique watercolor method. Admittedly, I was leery of this choice in coloring, but as I read, it grew on me.  I actually found myself favoring it, for  Nguyen uses boldness in color to focus on what is important, rather than overwhelming the page with bold, bright colors.

I could continue to rave about the genius contained within this comic series. It has it all, genuinely. Mystery, intrigue, politics…all wrapped up in the form of a small, innocent robot. Highly, highly recommended.