The New World TP Comic Review
Summary: When reality TV and authoritarian government collide. The revolution will be televised.
4
Future Bard
The New World takes place after the Second Civil War in the United States as two people from very different backgrounds meet and fall in love, only to discover they are from different sides of the societal divide after the fact. Stated as a kind of Mad Max meets Romeo and Juliet… I’d say a better likeness might be The Running Man meets Romeo and Juliet. A future, psychedelic (Reality TV) Star Crossed lovers finding each other and fighting for their right to be together in a world gone mad.
Writing
A lot of negativity gets thrown around about the lack of “original” stories in the market… the old notion of their only being a handful of stories that keep getting retold over and over again. For me that’s like saying “but you had chocolate cake already… why would you want to have it again, you already know what it’s like.” To which I would respond the same way I do with movies, comics and the like “it’s how this one is made that makes it special… perhaps there’s an added splash of something else in the mix or it’s just put together with such skill that it’s like a whole new experience”. That’s kind of what we have here. The New World doesn’t hide it’s “retelling” of familiar stories… it wears it on it’s sleeve “yeah this is a new take on the Romeo and Juliet story… what of it?”. What of it indeed. Mixing that familiar story from the Bard with elements of our current world in flux, giant border walls, the prevalence of reality TV and the desire to segregate and you get a pretty fun ride.
Artwork
In trying to think about how to describe the art… the name that came to mind was Rick Griffin. Most probably because my parents bought me a book of his art and story many years ago… but also because there are a lot of similarities to his work and the art within The New World. A lot of wavy lines, bright colours and a kind of general techno scifi psychedelia… mixing the harshness and clinical appearance of the slums and the well off areas with the vibrancy of the “resistance” and the open road makes for a very visually striking book.
Final Thoughts
It’s a familiar tale but it’s told with some new twists to make it fresh. Aspects of the story are a little too close to reality for comfort, but the key message is still hope and that’s something we can all do with. No matter the resistance to our love, our life or existence… there remains hope.
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Ales Kot
Artist: Heather Moore, Tradd Moore
Cover Artist: Heather Moore, Tom Muller, Tradd Moore
Genre: SciFi, Action, Romance
Format: 180pgs, FC, TPB
Release Date: 16th January, 2019
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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