Synopsis: Mark (no last name given) is a mild-mannered geek who suddenly finds himself accused of murder. The victim? Another version of himself from an alternate reality. How is he able to figure out the facts? With the help of a group called the Deadenders. This group includes other Marks from other realities.

First off, the art is spacey, psychedelic, and visually effective. The colors glide effortlessly across the panels. It’s quite an experience to behold. It’s like one of those psychedelic 60s light shows; particularly the ones by Pink Floyd. It feels as if the panels lack boundaries. It is almost as if everything could come alive out of the page. A comic fan would have to be brain dead not to appreciate the art here. Stunning. It’s quite stunning.

The bad news is the story isn’t up to much: geeky guy becomes a hero when he stumbles upon an amazing new society and lifestyle. Along the way he meets cute chicks who are either real bitchy or real cool. But both types end up falling for him. Now let me think: geeky guy, strange new powers, becomes a hero, thrown into a world where he battles strange villains, meets a cute chick, falls in love with cute chick, and so on. Hmm. I think I’ve seen this before. Think The Matrix. Think Spiderman. Think Harry Potter. Think Robert Kirkman’s Invincible. Think Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern. Think Wally West’s Flash. If the reader can think of all those guys and think of similar stories, then I think the reader has seen this story before.

Already by page four I had the feeling I’d seen this story before. On pages twelve and thirteen Mark is sitting in a living room by himself. He hears a knock on the door. He apprehensively goes toward it. At the end of page thirteen, there’s a panel with a surprised look on Mark’s face as he opens the door. Before going to the next page I said, “Let me guess, there’s a cute chick at the door.” Bingo! And what else happens? He falls head over heels in love with her. He gets sweaty, starts mumbling, and has a hard time looking her in the eye whenever he talks to her. Personally, I don’t know whether to yawn or to vomit. I am tired of these geeky guy becomes a hero, saves the world, and meets a hot chick stories. Scott Pilgrim has already shown that story can only go so far before it becomes drudgery. Whatever happened to the cool, calm and collected man who knows the score? James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Dirty Harry, Mad Max, are these guys no longer cool? Is geeky the new black?

All in all, this story lost my interest by page fourteen. Good art can’t save a clichéd story. I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who wants something with an interesting twist. However, if there’s a reader who buys comics for the art alone, Christian Ward’s art is something to appreciate.