Writer: Jeremy Holt / Penciller: George Schall / Letterer: Adam Wollet / Collects: Made In Korea (2021) #1 - #6 / SC / Image Comics
29th June 2022
The Pitch: A Korean nine-year-old named Jesse is adopted and sent to live with a lovely couple in America. Socially awkward, yet equipped with a seemingly encyclopedic brain, the young girl's journey through the complexities of race, gender, and identity hits a fork in the road when she discovers she's not entirely human...
yet. Adolescence just got a lot more emotional for the world's first true A.I. system.
Made in Korea is a book that sits at a fascinating crossroads. In part, it has its roots in the Spielberg / Kubrick fusion of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. It also takes its cue from Children of Men, with its plague of sterilisation, rendering couples childless, so much so that technology steps in creating children that come ready-made, never growing. In part, then, it also becomes a dark Peter Pan, its Lost Boys available via mail-order. Its final puzzle piece is the haunting, malevolent spectre of school shootings. And finally, it becomes a piece of gender fluidity and allowing children to make choices that will define their identities. With so much happening, you might wonder if the book can hold up on it's own term, as an original piece? Will it become such a fusion of other cultural and societal touchpoints, that it becomes impossible to hear the voices of its creators?
made in korea’s uprising is singular in form but limitless in shape.
For the record, I already have my answer. I interviewed Jeremy Holt, the book's writer, back when the first issue was released and they kindly allowed me to take a look at the next two issues. I waited until the trade to complete my reading, meaning there was something like nine months before I got to experience the book in full. It is perhaps a grace note that this a pregnancy term, since the book deals with a lack of biological children and the things we might do to supplant the emotional void of that. It was worth the wait, as upon finishing, I knew I'd read something major, as good if not better than the significant A.I. Fictions out there in any form. Made In Korea offers us a wider look at the world, beyond the borders of America, where most tales of technological uprising seem to strike first. And futhermore, its uprising is singular in form but limitless in shape. It's a revolution of one, as Jesse builds and claims their identity and chooses not only to cross the borders of their limits, but of their appearance. The future... becomes genderless, borderless. Or at least, nurtures the ability to redefine it's gender and borders. And within that, their meaning to us. Beginning in Korea is wonderful way to orientate the audience to this new future, immediately widening the scope of the story. Also, with much of the new technology we depend on being created there, it speaks to the way the western world views Asian cultures as giant service industries for our desires and convenience, without thinking that perhaps these cultures have desires and needs of their own. So it is the same for Jesse, who comes to America via mail-order and consumes information, devours ideas and political notions. Deep down, I think we find prodigious children quite frightening. They play into the certainty that our children will replace us, and be something better. So too with technology, especially Artificial Intelligence. As Jeremy put it so succinctly in our interview: "We keep finding ways to make ourselves obsolete." Just another model, past our best, with dangerous workings that make us a risk.
the book doesn’t preach or say ‘pull back’ nor does it say ‘surge ahead’.
Made In Korea presents an America that has righted one plague: the story is set in an undesignated time, 50 years after a country-wide ban on guns has come into effect. Here, technology steps in again, with two disaffected teens 3-D Printing weapons. It speaks to the fact that the positives and negatives of any technology will largely be a result of the way we wield them, always a tough pill to swallow for the generations raised on Amazon culture and the churches of Google and Apple. What's fascinating about the book is the way it doesn't preach or say "pull back". Nor does it say "surge ahead". Rather, it encourages taking a breath and looking around. Considering all the ramifications before acting. Also, it asks that perhaps we nurture the children we have before creating (or buying) more.
Holt's writing is a pleasure to read. They let the story unfold organically. Things happen in a decidedly un-machined manner. It kind of sneaks up on you, with the themes doing the groundwork as they are layered gently in. They are, quite simply, a writer that knows how to write exceptionally well. As far as my own memory (such as it is) can recall, this is my first experience of Schall's art, but I'll be seeking out more work with their name on it. They create textured images, with beautiful lines, that glow with the light of LED SCREENS, the light by which all our lives now seemingly get dictated. They handle both Jesse's wide-eyed curiosity and the sceptical vision of adults with equal, expressive skill. I hope they always get to ink and colour their own work as they do here, as I doubt anyone could do it better. Wollet's lettering is sublime, navigating the international speech patterns laid out in Holt's script, making everyone distinctive, with a voice all their own. Made in Korea is just that, a group of distinctive voices, telling you a bold piece of low-key sci-fi that deserves to live on beyond this single volume. I hope you'll see to that it does.